Indian women's cricket team registered a huge 78-run win over the United Arab Emirates in their second Women's Asia Cup 2024 match in Dambulla on Sunday, July 21. Richa Ghosh and Harmanpreet Kaur pulled off big knocks to help India post their biggest-ever T20I total of 201 and then in-form Deepti Sharma picked two wickets to restrict the UAE to 123.
With two big wins in their opening two games, India women have all but secured the semi-final berth while UAE women find themselves at the bottom of the Group A points table with two defeats in two matches and are facing an early elimination.
After being forced to bat first, India lost their star batters Smriti Mandhana and Dayalan Hemalatha in powerplay overs. But Shafali Verma smashed quick 37 runs off 18 balls to put the Women in Blues on a track for a big total.
Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet added 54 runs for the third wickets with the former scoring 14 runs. Harmanpreet and Richa then dominated the closing stages with remarkable big-hitting skills and helped India women post their first-ever 200-plus total in T20Is.
The duo added 75 runs for the fifth wicket with Richa smashing unbeaten 64 runs off 29 balls and Harmanpreet top-scoring with 66 runs off 47 balls before losing her wicket in the last over. The young off-spinner Kavisha Egodage took two wickets for 36 for UAE.
Chasing a mammoth total, the UAE managed to avoid losing a wicket in the first four overs but struggled for big shots. The ace pacer Renuka Singh gave India a breakthrough with Theertha Satish's wicket in the fifth over and then the UAE struggled for any meaningful partnerships.
Indian bowlers kept the momentum by their side with regular wickets while the UAE tried to avoid being bowled out. Skipper Esha Oza scored 38 runs off 36 balls and the spin all-rounder Kavisha Egodage smashed unbeaten 40 runs off 32 balls but no other batter managed to score more than ten runs for the UAE.
Deepti continued her red-hot form with two big wickets while conceding just 32 runs for India women. Richa bagged the Player of the Match award for her sensational fiery knock of 64* off just 29 balls with the help of 12 fours and one six.
India Women Playing XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur Singh, Tanuja Kanwar.
United Arab Emirates Women Playing XI: Esha Rohit Oza( c), Theertha Satish (wk), Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Kavisha Egodage, Khushi Sharma, Heena Hotchandani, Vaishnave Mahesh, Rithika Rajith, Lavanya Keny, Indhuja Nandakumar.
