The ninth edition of the Women's Asia Cup got underway today and the first game itself witnessed with Nepal registering their first ever win in the tournament. They chased down 116 runs with 23 balls and six wickets in hand as they started their campaign with a stunning win. Opener Samjhana Khadka was the star batter for them scoring an unbeaten 72 in the chase as the second highest scorer in the line-up was 10 with UAE conceding 14 extras in the innings.
Earlier, Nepal skipper Indu Barma won the toss and opted to bowl first. She led from the front with the ball much to the delight of her side. She introduced herself into the attack as the fourth bowler and derailed UAE's batting picking up three wickets for just 19 runs in her spell. Khushi Sharma top scored for the UAE mustering 36 runs off 39 balls while Kavisha Egodage also scored 22 runs.
UAE never got the momentum in their innings and ended up scoring only 115 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their 20 overs. With the pitch being on the slower side, it seemed to be a competitive score at the halfway stage.
However, Samjhana Khadka had other ideas as she scored an unbeaten 72 runs off just 45 balls at a strike-rate of 160 in the chase to help Nepal register a comfortable win. She stitched an opening stand of 39 runs first with Sita Rana Magar and then despite losing partners at regular intervals at the other end, stood strong to create history for her side.
Nepal chased down the total in just 16.1 overs losing only four wickets and Khadka remained unbeaten making sure she took the team over the line. Kavisha Egodage tried to strangle Nepal batters with her off-spin picking up three wickets but she didn't get enough support from other bowlers. This is a crucial win for Nepal as India and Pakistan are the other teams in their group and one more upset can take them to the semifinals. However, to go past even Pakistan, led by Nida Dar, they will have to play even better cricket.
