Shafali, Deepti power India into sixth T20 Asia Cup final

After India were put in on a slow pitch, Shafali Verma scored 64 off 40 balls, making full use of the reprieves she got on 6, 11, 50 and 56. The knock helped India post a formidable 149 for 6 even though most other batters struggled for timing.

Juairiya Ferdous and Dilara Akter came out with positive intent but once the spin was introduced, they too felt powerless. India helped them by dropping four catches of varying difficulty, but Bangladesh did not have someone like Shafali to take advantage of those. In the end, they could reach only 109 for 7.

Shafali lives a charmed life

Marufa Akter was impressive once again with the new ball. Apart from her stock inswinger to the right-hand batter, she also showed off her legcutter, which beat Shafali's outside edge a couple of times.

Opening the bowling from the other end, offspinner Sultana Khatun produced two chances in her very first over. Fahima Khatun dropped Shafali at long-on but Smriti Mandhana was not that fortunate. Shorna Akter caught her miscued aerial attempt at mid-on.

Rawal and Harmanpreet's toil

Rawal had opened her account with a classical off-drive for four off the first ball. She also launched Rabeya Khan for a six in the last over of the powerplay. But she struggled to rotate strike and could manage only 20 off 24 balls in the end.

Harmanpreet Kaur, too, found it difficult to get going. At one point, she was on 3 off 15 balls. As a result, India could score only 33 runs in seven overs after the powerplay.

Shafali continues to ride her luck

Shafali reached her fifty off 35 balls and then enjoyed some more luck. On the very next ball, she had a miscommunication with Harmanpreet. It should have been an easy run-out at the bowler's end but Fahima fumbled the throw.

Shafali then pulled Sultana over deep midwicket for a six. She tried to repeat the dose on the next ball but Shorna dropped the catch. The ball burst through her hands, hit her on the face and trickled to the deep-midwicket boundary. However, she holed out to long-on in the same over, with substitute Farjana Easmin taking the catch.

Richa Ghosh (21 off 16) and Deepti Sharma (13 off six) injected some momentum towards the end while Harmanpreet finished on 24 not out off 28.

Ferdous and Dilara gave Bangladesh a steady start, with both batters hitting two boundaries each in the first three overs. But there were plenty of dot balls too, which meant the scoreboard read only 18 for no loss after three overs.

After that, Harmanpreet introduced spin from both ends and the scoring rate dropped further. Bowling the last over of the powerplay, N Shree Charani delivered a wicket maiden, making Ferdous her 50th T20I wicket.

Deepti does Deepti things

Deepti struck in her very first over. With the asking rate climbing fast, Ferdous tried to go aerial but holed out to deep midwicket. Nigar Sultana and Sobhana Mostary added 31 for the third wicket but consumed 34 balls for it.

Deepti ended the stand by castling Mostary. That triggered a mini-collapse with Bangladesh losing three wickets in 15 balls for 17 runs. Prema Rawat had Nigar caught at short third before Deepti bowled Sharmin Akhter to make it 83 for 5 in the 16th over.

India's fielding woes

The result was all but sealed by then. But India, too, were sub-par in the field, right from the start. In the very first over of the chase, Rawal had dropped an overhead catch at cover-point to reprieve Dilara. Later on, she dropped Mostary at backward point. Mandhana misjudged a boundary catch as well, before Ghosh and Nandani Sharma collided while going for one near square leg. On another day, these mistakes could have proved costly.