Women’s Asia Cup: Harmanpreet and Richa fifties carry India to comfortable win over UAE

Dambulla: Captain Harmanpreet Kaur hit a fine 12th T20I fifty, while wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh got her first half-century in the format to set the base for India’s comfortable 78-run over UAE in their second 2024 Women’s Asia Cup match at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

On a fresh pitch with wind blowing across, India were in early trouble after losing three wickets in power-play. But Harmanpreet and Richa added 75 runs off 45 balls for the fifth wicket, as India made 201/5, the first time they posted a score above 200 in women’s T20Is.

It is also the highest ever score posted in the history of Women’s Asia Cup in T20 format, surpassing the 181/4 which was also hit by India against Malaysia in 2022. Harmanpreet’s 66 off 47 balls, laced with seven fours and a six, steadied India’s ship, as well as become the second leading run-getter in women’s T20Is.

Richa applied perfect finishing touches with a whirlwind 64 not out off 29 balls at a strike-rate of 220.68. Her unbeaten 64 is now the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper in women’s T20Is, as well as in the history of Women’s T20 Asia Cup.

Richa’s blistering knock was laced with 12 fours and a six, as India hit 37 runs off the last two overs. In reply, chasing 202 was never going to be an easy task for UAE, who ended up at 123/7, as all of India’s five bowlers picked at least a wicket. India, the defending champions, have now one foot firmly in entering the semi-finals of the ongoing tournament.

Pushed into batting first, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma hit three boundaries collectively in the first two overs. But in a bid to loft the ball against Kavisha Egodage, Smriti mistimed her shot and was caught by mid-off in the third over.

Shafali went after UAE’s bowling by slog-sweeping and slapping Kavisha for a six and four respectively, followed by collecting three more boundaries in quick succession. But while pulling on a short and wide ball against Samaira Dharnidharka in the fifth over, Shafali got the bottom edge and was caught by the keeper.

Dayalan Hemalatha fell without doing much in last over of power-play – going back to pull Heena Hotchandani, but was beaten for pace and castled. Harmanpreet got three leg-side boundaries, apart from opening her bat face late to get one through the off-side to bring up the half-century of her stand with Jemimah Rodrigues, who was constantly rotating strike.

Though Jemimah fell by lobbing a fuller ball to mid-off against Kavisha, Richa ensured that India didn’t let go of its good tempo. She straightaway got into the boundary-hitting spree by driving Esha Oza for four, followed by lofting Kavisha over long-off for six.

The big over which India were looking for came in the 15th over when Richa pierced the off-side gap, followed by driving, pulling, and square-driving to hit four boundaries in an 18-run over. Richa and Harmanpreet continued to hit boundaries easily before the latter reached her fifty in 41 balls.

Harmanpreet then took two fours and a six off Samaira in the 19th over, before being run-out in the final over. Richa unleashed her big-hitting in the last over by hitting five successive boundaries off Heena, one of which got her a maiden half-century in T20Is in 26 balls, as India also got to a 200+ total for the first time.

UAE got few boundaries in the power-play, but in the absence of strike-rotation, they couldn’t get off to a blistering start. Renuka Singh Thakur took out a struggling Theertha Satish, who picked out mid-on to perfection, while Pooja Vastrakar got one to straighten past Rinitha Rajith’s outside edge and hit top of off-stump.

Deepti Sharma joined the wicket-takers’ list by having Samaira whip straight to mid-wicket in the eighth over. Amidst increasing pressure on UAE, captain Esha held one end aloft with her solid boundaries, including slog-sweeping Deepti for six, followed by lofting and whacking Radha Yadav for consecutive fours.

But her knock came to an end in the 13th over when debutant Tanuja Kanwer enticed her to come out for a drive, but was beaten on the outside edge and stumped by Richa, giving the left-arm spinner her first international wicket on third attempt. From there, the result became a foregone conclusion as Radha and Deepti took a wicket each before a run-out ended UAE’s innings, as India sealed a big win.

Brief Scores: India 201/5 (Harmanpreet Kaur 66, Richa Ghosh 64 not out; Kavisha Egodage 2-36) beat UAE 123/7 (Kavisha Egodage 40 not out, Esha Oza 38; Deepti Sharma 2-23, Tanuja Kanwer 1-14) by 78 runs

–IANS