India defeat Bangladesh by 40 runs, punch tickets to Asia Cup final

India's Deepti Sharma celebrates the fall of a Bangladesh wicket in the Asia Cup semifinal. (ACC)

Deepti Sharma starred with 3 wickets on Thursday as India restricted Bangladesh to 109/7 in a chase of 149 to win the semifinal of the Asia Cup by 40 runs and make their way into the final. They will now wait for the winners of the Pakistan vs Sri Lanka match on Friday to find out who they face in the summit clash.

Earlier, Shafali Verma rode her luck on a testing pitch where the other batters disappointed to push India to 149 for five. Shafali was dropped as many as thee times in her stroke-filled 64 off 40 balls. The Bangladesh bowling attack, which has been impressive in the tournament, was able to keep the accomplished Indian batters quiet for majority of the innings.

In total, four dropped catches let Bangladesh down else India would have struggled to get past the 120-run mark. India captain Harmanpreet Kaur (24 not out off 28), usually a good player of spin, struggled for majority of her innings only managing four runs off her first 16 balls.

Shafali single handedly steered India to a competitive total notwithstanding her remarkable stroke of luck, having been dropped on 6, 11 and 56. While the batters in the top four batted at a sub 100 strike rate, Shafali ended with an impressive 160 strike rate that included three sixes off the spinners.

The destructive opener played her shots all around the park and her innings included a front foot pull off pacer Marufa Akter, reverse sweep and massive hits down the ground off the spinners. India did well to reach 45 for one in the powerplay but could not accelerate in the middle overs.

India’s new number three Pratika Rawal (20 off 24) has been under pressure in the tournament but on Thursday she made a sizzling start, a copy book cover drive off Akter. Later in her innings, she came out of the crease to hit a six before falling to the same bowler.

Richa Ghosh (21 off 16) too was slow to get off the blocks but managed to add valuable runs. Skipper Harmanpreet redeemed herself with a couple of sixes towards the end.
Considering it has been a low scoring tournament, India would back themselves to defend their total.