India Dominates Bangladesh to Secure Women’s Asia Cup 2024 Final Spot
India easily trounced Bangladesh in a dominant display to go to the Women’s Asia Cup final.
Renuka Singh and Radha Yadav’s crucial contributions destroyed Bangladesh’s innings, making it easy for India’s openers to chase down the modest score.
Bangladesh 80 for 8 (Renuka 3-10, Radha 3-14, Deepti 1-14) lost to India 83 for 0 (Mandhana 55*, Shafali 26*) by 10 wickets.
It couldn’t have gotten much more dominant than this in terms of victories. Bangladesh’s attempt to put pressure on the scoreboard failed, as Renuka Singh and Radha Yadav combined to take six wickets to leave India with a modest mark to pursue. With nine overs remaining, their reliable openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana completed the task on their own.
India will play the winner of Sri Lanka vs. Pakistan later today at the same location on Sunday, with the possibility to win a historic ninth Women’s Asia Cup (across white-ball formats).
Before the Women’s Asia Cup, Renuka’s form has been slipping. After a lackluster 4-0-42-0 in her lone appearance in that series, she was dropped out of two of the three Twenty20 Internationals versus South Africa. Particularly against flat decks, her early reputation as a powerplay swing queen seemed to be eroding.
Renuka required a significant tournament in this situation because young Arundhati Reddy is likely to compete for her slot. India will probably only be able to fit one more seamer in their first XI beside Pooja Vastrakar. She gave birth on Friday. Bangladesh had no response to Renuka’s powerplay salvo, as her three wickets in three overs disturbed the country’s preparations to launch an all-out assault.
On the third ball, Dilara Akter forcefully hit Renuka for a six, but on the fourth ball, she holed out to deep square. After being saved at slip by Deepti Sharma, Murshida Khatun mistimed a heave to midwicket two balls. Ishma Tanjim bailed out of a slog to get a leading edge to Tanuja Kanwar at short third. In five overs, Bangladesh was reduced to 21 for 3.
Bangladesh managed a single boundary, struck by Nigar Sultana, and played out 19 dots between overs six and nine. India’s bowlers kept coming at them, and they were searching for the release they just couldn’t get.
After coming into the game in the tenth over, Radha struck off her opening delivery when Rumana Ahmed, the second-most experienced hitter in Bangladesh, was bowled after playing all around a straight ball.
Bangladesh attempted to attack nonetheless. In the eleventh over, Rabeya Khan misplayed an attempt to flat-bat Pooja Vastrakar, which Shafali Verma superbly recovered from at mid-on.
The situation compelled Nigar to abandon his preparations for a counterattack, with the priority now being on surviving against the incredibly talented three of Deepti, Tanuja Kanwar, and Radha Yadav, who are all extremely different from one another. Radha unsettled them with deliveries that failed to turn, Deepti kept them silent with flying, and Kanwar got the ball to drift and turn.
Also Read: Shafali Verma’s T20I Masterclass Leads India to Semi-Finals in Women’s Asia Cup 2024
They didn’t make much progress until Nigar and Shorna Akter joined in the 14th over; from 17 to 19, they added 27 runs. Then, in the 20th, Radha produced a double-wicket maiden, finishing with 3 for 14 between Nigar and Nahida Akter.
India was free to experiment if they so desired. They may have observed what Uma Chetry, D Hemalatha’s replacement at No. 3, has to offer. Deepti may have been given some batting practice. Or maybe just a little shout-out to Jemimah Rodrigues. However, they adhered to their tried-and-true opening lineup, which quickly dealt Bangladesh a fatal blow.
Shafali brushed seamer Marufa Akter off her lengths in front of the square, Mandhana challenged herself to take fielders on and cleared them at will, and the boundaries flowed. Shafali shoveled and flat-batted the bowlers, while Mandhana entertained the small audience with her signature drives.
Bangladesh squandered two opportunities on the pitch. First, a run out in the fifth when Nahida misdirected a throw with no one at the bowler’s end to support Mandhana as he was limping down. Shafali was given a respite in the ninth when Nahida grassed a sitter at far off. In addition, there was a Mandhana reprieve off a no-ball in between the two.
Mandhana carried on her rampage, hitting three consecutive fours to reach her half-century and to complete a victory that was assured from Bangladesh’s innings powerplay onwards.
