India ease past Thailand to secure final berth

Led by Shafali Verma's blazing 42 and backed up by a disciplined, collective bowling effort, India registered a comfortable 74-run win over Thailand in the first semifinal of the 2022 Women's Asia Cup.

Put in to bat, India asserted their dominance despite losing Smriti Mandhana early. Shafali, who looked in fine nick, smashed five boundaries and a six through the course of her 28-ball stay. Jemimah Rodrigues struggled early on a tacky pitch, but found her flow later in the innings. Thailand bowlers controlled the scoring rate in the late overs, but Harmanpreet Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar's efforts helped India to 148 for 6.

In response, however, Thailand never looked the part. Pegged back early by Deepti Sharma's triple strike, they were reduced to 18 for 3 with the powerplay done. A 42-run stand for the fifth wicket between Naruemol Chaiwai and Nattaya Boochatham helped Thailand recover briefly, but Sneh Rana trapped the latter legbefore and triggered a collapse. Renuka Singh and Shafai verma also picked a wicket as Thailand were eventually restricted to 74 for 9.

Brief Scores: India 148/6 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 42, Harmanpreet Kaur 36; Sornnarin Tippoch 3-24) beat Thailand 74/9 in 20 overs (Nattaya Boochatham 21, Naruemol Chaiwai; Deepti Sharma 3-7, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2-10) by 74 runs

Source: Cricbuzz