Richa Ghosh and Harmanpreet Kaur were on fire during India's Women's Asia Cup match against UAE on Sunday, July 21. The Women in Blue are looking for their second win in a row after beating Pakistan in their tournament opener two days ago.
Harmanpreet and Richa gave impetus to the struggling Indian batting lineup during the first innings after being put in by UAE at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Dambulla. India went three down for 52 inside the powerplay despite Shafali Verma's 37-run knock giving them a strong start. Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues partnered for a 54-run stand for the fourth wicket to bring India back on track before the latter departed for 14.
But Richa and Harmanpreet joined hands for a blistering partnership to take India to 201/5 in their 20 overs. This is the first instance of Indian women breaching the 200-run mark in T20Is ever in their 18-year-old history of the format.
India's previous highest team total was 198 which they made against England in 2018 in a Tri-Nation series also featuring Australia.
Richa Ghosh played a masterful knock of 64 runs from just 29 balls, while the Indian skipper made 66 from 47 deliveries. Richa has become the first Indian wicketkeeper to score a fifty in the women's Asia Cup. The previous highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper in the tournament belonged to Sulakshana Naik, who made 23.
India went with one forced change as Shreyanka Patil has been ruled out of the tournament due to a fractured finger. The Women in Blue handed a debut cap to Tanuja Kanwar for this game.
India's 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
UAE's 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
