NEW DELHI: With a commanding three-wicket haul from pacer Renuka Singh and a blistering fifty from Smriti Mandhana , India defeated Bangladesh by ten wickets to advance to their ninth Women's Asia Cup final at Dambulla on Friday. Defending champions India will face the winner of the second semifinal between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in the title clash on Sunday, as per PTI. AS IT HAPPENED India easily surpassed the target of 81 thanks to the outstanding performances of Shafali (26 not out, 28b, 2x4) and Mandhana (55 not out, 39b, 9x4, 1x6).
After 11 overs, India reached 83 without a loss. India roared to 46 for no loss in the Power Play thanks to the characteristic strokes around the ground delivered by Mandhana and Shafali. Shafali, who was dropped by Rabeya Khan on 21, played such forceful heaves beyond the line to find the fence.
On the other end, Mandhana displayed some beautiful drives on the off-side, like the one in which the left-hander hit past the covers against bowler Marufa Akter. Once Bangladesh was restricted to 80 for eight, Mandhana showed off her strength once more, hitting bowler Jahanara Alam for a six over deep square leg as India cruised to an inevitable victory. With brilliant spells, Renuka (3/10) up front and left-arm spinner Radha Yadav (3/14) in the middle overs shook Bangladesh.
In fact, Bangladesh barely made a dent in Renuka's deep cuts over the first six overs. Bangladesh chose to bat first, and left-arm spinner Radha Yadav (3/14) provided plenty of support for Renuka, who bowled four overs in a row during her 3/10 spell. Renuka removed Dilara Akter in the first over itself, when her slog sweep lacked sufficient force to remove Uma Chetry at deep mid-wicket.
Tanuja Kanwar caught a mistimed whip across the line by Renuka, who had overcome Ishma Tanjim in her previous over with a delivery that kept close to her body. With a slightly short of length delivery that Murshida Khatun smashed straight to Shafali at midwicket, Renuka claimed her third wicket in as many overs. Bangladesh were rapidly losing their way as they were 25 for three during the Power Play period.
Their only chance of survival came from their captain, Nigar Sultana (32, 51b, 2x4), who was the third-highest run scorer in the competition. Sultana lingered tenaciously, but even she was unable to put up much of a fight against the Indian bowlers, who conceded only seven runs in overs seven and ten and lost Rumana Ahmed to Radha's fast arm ball. Additionally, Sultana received very little support, and the day's strong lineup of Indian spinners made it difficult for the right-hander to execute her go-to sweep shot.
In contrast to the previous games, the Indians fielded much well, with Shafali standing out in particular. She was from the top draw when she made the diving forward catch to remove Rabeya off bowler Pooja Vastrakar. Sultana, who was dismissed for the first time in this tournament, and Shorna Akter (19 not out, 18b, 2x4) had a decent little partnership of 36 runs for the seventh wicket, but it came far too late to change the course of the match.
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