Women’s Asia Cup T20 2022: India Defeats Thailand & Enters Into Final

India defeated Thailand by 74 runs & captured the final and held a record-expanding 7 women’s Asia Cup titles in Sylhet, Bangladesh, thanks to brisk opener Shafali Verma.

India advanced to their 8th straight Asia Cup final with the victory over Thailand, including four each in the One-day International and T20 formats. Before 2012, the competition was a 50-over-a-side event.

It turned out that India will have an easy time versus Thailand in the semifinal match. India batted first and scored 148 for six before holding Thailand to 74 for 9 in the lopsided match.

Thailand never had a chance to go close to the target while chasing it since they kept losing wickets. However, the Thai ladies fared far better than they did in their previous league match against India, where they were routed by nine wickets.

In that game, the Indians bowled Thailand out for just 37 runs in 15.1 overs, and they subsequently easily chased down the mark. 

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Despite being down to 21 for one in the 8th over on Thursday, the Thai ladies performed better with the bat.

With her off-spin, Deepti Sharma (3 for 7) caused the majority of the damage, taking the first 3 Thai wickets in successive overs.

With a 42-run stand for the 5th wicket, the captain Naruemol Chaiwai (21) and Nattaya Boochatham (21) demonstrated some fight with the bat, but the asking rate was too high.

Earlier, when she was given the opportunity to bat, Shafali was at her most destructive, leading India with a 28-ball 42 thanks to five boundaries and one shot over the fence. 

Before hitting a low full toss from Phannita Maya direct to Onnicha Kamchomphu at mid-on, Shafali shared 38 runs in 4.3 overs with vice skipper Smriti Mandhana.

The next batter to leave the game was Shafali, who misplayed off-spinner Sornnarin Tippoch’s volleyed delivery to Thailand captain Naruemol Chaiwai at short midwicket. 

As Indian batters were guilty of handing up their wickets after obtaining starts, the majority of the dismissals were favors to Thai bowlers.

The next to loft a ball straight to Rosenan Kanoh at long-on off Thipatcha Putthawong was Jemimah Rodrigues (27). 

When India was reduced to 132 for 5 in the 18th over, Tippoch took two wickets in back-to-back overs. 

She first successfully captured wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh just in front of the wicket before taking out skipper Harmanpreet Kaur in the next over as the batter attempted to clear the covering boundary.

Harmanpreet, who led the team again after missing the previous two games owing to an injury, appeared healthy and laced her 30-ball total of 36 with four shots to the boundary.

Pooja Vastrakar’s fast 13-ball 17 towards the conclusion, helped by a six, helped India get near to the 150-run threshold.

The tournament, in which seven nations took part, will conclude on October 15 with a championship match.