Hong Kong: The spin troika of Shreyanka Patil, Mannat Kashyap and Kanika Ahuja played crucial roles in helping India A emerge victorious in the Women’s Emerging Asia Cup T20 tournament after beating Bangladesh A by 31 runs in the final on Wednesday.
Ahead of the title clash, India A played just one group stage match – against Hong Kong A – and made it to the final based on that result as rest of their matches were abandoned due to rain.
But that made little difference to the Shweta Sehrawat-led side grabbing the silverware, the second such title won by an India women’s team after winning inaugural edition of U19 Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa in January.
Electing to bat first, Kanika (30 not out off 23 balls) and Vrinda Dinesh (36 off 29 balls) played decisive knocks in taking India to a competitive 127/7 in 20 overs. In reply, off-spinner Shreyanka took 4/13 while left-arm spinner Mannat picked 3/20 and Kanika clinched two scalps to bowl out Bangladesh for just 96 in 19.2 overs.
In the initial part of the match, the Indian batters struggled to get runs as Bangladesh’s bowlers never gave them the room to break free, resulting in them losing wickets at regular intervals.
It resulted in only Shweta (13) and wicketkeeper Uma Chetry (22) being the other two batters apart from Vrinda and Kanika to reach double digit scores from the Indian innings. For Bangladesh, left-arm spinner Nahida Akter and off-spinner Sultana Khatun were the pick of the bowlers by picking two wickets each.
In reply, Mannat provided initial breakthroughs by taking out opening pair of Dilara Akter and Shathi Rani in the first four overs. Shreyanka arrived to get a wicket in her very first over by removing skipper Lata Mondal and later, had Murshida Khatun stumped.
From there, the result was a foregone conclusion as Bangladesh batters continued to be outwitted by Indian spinners, with pace all-rounder Titas Sadhu taking the last wicket to ensure India signed from the rain-hit tournament with a silverware.
Kanika was named player of the match for her all-round efforts in the final while Shreyanka was adjudged Player of the Tournament for picking nine wickets in two matches.
Brief Scores: India A 127/7 in 20 overs (Vrinda Dinesh 36, Kanika Ahuja 30 not out; Nahida Akter 2/13, Sultana Khatun 2/30) beat Bangladesh A 96 all out in 19.2 overs (Nahida Akter 17 not out; Shreyanka Patil 4/13, Mannat Kashyap 3/20) by 31 runs
–IANS