India Women beat Nepal Women by 82 runs confirms semifinal slot

In their Women’s Asia Cup 2024 Group A encounter on Tuesday, India defeated Nepal by 82 runs thanks to a knock from Shafali Verma and three wickets from Deepti Sharma. Nepal, chasing 179, lost wickets often and could only manage 96/9 in 20 overs. Arundhati Reddy and Radha Yadav each grabbed two wickets in addition to Deepti. Earlier, Verma led India to a massive total with 81 runs off of 48 balls. India’s victory has sent them to the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 semifinals.

The most productive bowler for India was Deepti Sharma (3/13) who claimed three wickets, followed by spin teammate Radha Yadav (2/12) and seamer Arundhati Reddy (2/18), who replaced a rested Pooja Vastrakar, who claimed two wickets apiece.

Nepal found it difficult to chase the score, losing wickets often and reaching 52 for 4 in 10.2 overs. Seamer Arundhati dismissed both openers, Samjhana Khadka (7) and Sita Rana Magar (18).
After that, Renuka Singh (1/15) removed Kabita Kunwar (6) and Radha eliminated Indu Barma (14). Then Deepti entered the game, eliminating Kabita Joshi(0) and Rubina Chhetry(15) before throwing Puja Mahato(2) straight out of the game. Radha claimed the second victim, Dolly Bhatta (5), while Deepti claimed her third wicket, dismissing Kajal Shrestha (3) with a catch and bowl attempt.

Nepal could only manage 96 for nine in their 20 overs, mostly due to some excellent bowling from the potent Indian attack. Nepal needed to reach the goal in or under 10 overs to top Pakistan on net run rate and advance for the semifinals.

Smriti Mandhana, Indian captain: “As an opener, you don’t have a lot of games when you don’t get to bat. Really happy with the way Shafali batted… We finished off really well. Not a lot of pre-decision. The wind is different to what we have back home. Some runs under the belt always gives them confidence. Really good game to get things going. Not only this tournament, but also in the last five or six months, the preparation [for the T20 World Cup had started]… We always believe that it if you have to win the World Cup, it’s a big preparation. They always had a smile on their faces; they were enjoying each and every ball. Hopefully, they keep improving. You don’t take any team lightly. Nothing changes for us. We have time to rest and practice as well.”

Shafali Verma, Player of the Match: “I just tried to back my strenghth, and it worked. The consistency is coming, but I want to finish better. To score 200 is a big thing for a batter, and I got a lot of confidence from it. I hope I continue to do well for the team.”

Indu Barma, Nepal captain: “Proud of my team, and the effort we put in – I think we realised our weakness. We’ll come back stronger. We got lot of exposure playing against India. Definitely happy with my team. After the tenth over, our bowlers got good momentum. My team-mates and I got lots of experience playing against India and Pakistan.”

Nepal Women (Playing XI): Samjhana Khadka, Sita Rana Magar, Kabita Kunwar, Indu Barma(c), Dolly Bhatta, Rubina Chhetry, Puja Mahato, Kabita Joshi, Kajal Shrestha(w), Sabnam Rai, Bindu Rawal

India Women (Playing XI): Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana(c), Dayalan Hemalatha, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, S Sajana, Radha Yadav, Tanuja Kanwar, Renuka Thakur Singh, Arundhati Reddy