Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup | India stay unbeaten as they bowl out Nepal for lowest T20 total

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

18
no photo

Defending a total of 120, India bowled out Nepal for a paltry total of 21 in 16.3 overs to win by 99 runs in their last group stage fixture of the Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup. India have already booked their place in the final where they are likely to face their arch rivals Pakistan.

Brief Scores: India 120/5 in 20 overs (Shikha Pandey 39*(32), Vanitha 21(14); Belbashi 2/21) beat Nepal 21 all out in 16.3 overs (Sarita Magar 6(21); Yadav 3/9, Patil 2/0) by 99 runs

Batting first, India were off to a poor start as both the openers, Sabbhineni Meghana and VR Vanitha, were dismissed by the 5th over with just 29 runs on the board. Anuja Patil and Nuzhat Parween stabilized the innings with a 32-run partnership, but India’s middle-order crumbled like a house of cards after Patil was dismissed for 16. From 61/2, India were down to 69/5 in a matter of three overs.

However, Shikha Pandey came to India’s rescue as she played a quick-fire knock of 39 runs including five boundaries. She was ably supported by Harmanpreet Kaur at the other end as the duo formed an unbroken 51-run partnership to take India’s total to 120.

The Indians started the defense of their measly total with a bang.  Shikha Pandey and Mansi Joshi produced a couple of stunning spells with the new ball as Nepal were reduced to 10/5 by the 8th over. Following that, leg spinner Poonam Yadav decimated the middle-order by picking up 3 wickets as Nepal were bowled out for 21 in the 17th over. None of their players reached double figures while five of them were out for a duck. In fact, Nepal’s top scorer in the innings was extras with 7 runs. Nepal’s total broke the previous record of lowest ever T20 total in women’s cricket, which was also created by Nepal earlier in the tournament when they were bowled out for 23 against Sri Lanka.

With this victory, India have now won all of their five group stage games in the competitions, and will now wait for their opponent in the final. Pakistan are currently in second spot, but Sri Lanka and Bangladesh do have some slim chance of toppling them.

laught0
astonishment0
sadness0
heart0
like0
dislike0

Comments

Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions

0 Comments