Dambulla. Harmanpreet Kaur’s team will enter the Women’s Asia Cup with the intention of achieving a hat-trick of victories. The Indian team, full of confidence after easy victories in the first two matches of the tournament, will play against Nepal in Group A on Tuesday. In this last league match, the Indian team will want to secure a place in the semi-finals by registering a big win against Nepal. The Indian team defeated Pakistan by 7 wickets in its first match and the United Arab Emirates by 78 runs in the second match.
Nepal was successful in defeating Emirates in its first match but in the second match it had to face a crushing defeat by 9 wickets from Pakistan. India seems certain to make it to the semi-finals while Pakistan has improved its run rate significantly by registering a big win in the last match. However, the Indian team will focus on continuing its winning streak rather than looking at the position of other teams. It has performed well in both batting and bowling departments in the tournament so far, which it will be committed to continue.
The opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma batted brilliantly against Pakistan. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh scored half-centuries against UAE. Explosive batsman Ghosh scored 64 runs in 29 balls against UAE. Due to this innings, India was able to touch the 200-run mark for the first time in women’s T20 international cricket. Harmanpreet played the role of a mastermind by scoring 66 runs in 47 balls.
As far as the Indian bowling is concerned, Renuka Singh, Pooja Vastrakar have performed brilliantly so far. Even Tanuja Kanwar, who was included in the team in place of injured off-spinner Shreyanka Patil in the last match, performed her responsibility well and gave only 14 runs in four overs and also took one wicket.
Nepal’s team led by Indu Burma had a good start with a win against Emirates but it could not do anything against Pakistan. Now their team will be well aware of the challenge posed by India. If they have to trouble the Indian team, then their players will have to give their best performance.
The teams are as follows:
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shefali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Uma Chhetri (wicketkeeper), Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D Hemalatha, Asha Shobhana, Radha Yadav, Tanuja Kanwar, Sajna Sajeevan.
Nepal: Indu Burma (captain), Kajol Shrestha, Rubina Chhetri, Sabnam Rai, Sita Rana Magar, Rajmati Airee, Pooja Mahato, Bindu Rawal, Roma Thapa, Mamta Chowdhury, Kabita Joshi, Kabita Kunwar, Dolly Bhatta, Kritika Marasini, Samjhana Khadka.
Tags: Harmanpreet Kaur, Shefali Verma, smriti mandhana
FIRST PUBLISHED : July 23, 2024, 12:33 IST