Indian Women’s team registered their fastest-ever T20 innings in the Asian Games opener against Malaysia
It was a day to remember for Cricket as the sport made a return to the Asian Games after nine long years and it was the Indian Women’s team taking on Malaysia in the first quarterfinal having earned a direct qualification to the knockout stages courtesy of a superior rankings. Batting first India was expected to get off to a good start and the opening pair of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana did so by adding 57 runs for the first wicket. Both batters took advantage of the short boundaries and flexed their muscles while clearing the ropes with ease.
Solid Batting Performance
They were aided by some poor fielding from the Malaysian fielders who dropped Shafali twice and gave away easy boundaries. Unfortunately, Mandhana could not make full use of the good start and was dismissed soon after the duo completed the fifty-run partnership, but Verma continued her impressive form and scored 67 runs off just 39 balls.
Jemimah Rodrigues went on to capitalize on the solid platform set by the openers and scored an unbeaten 47 runs. She was left void of her fifty as Richa Ghosh who came to bat at number four hit 21 runs off 7 balls including four boundaries in the last over which took India’s score to 173-2
Injury Scare
There was a rain break during the innings, which resulted in the reduction of overs to 15. The absence of regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur led to Smriti Mandhana taking charge as the captain of the Indian team for this game. There was also a brief concern in the Indian camp late in the innings when Shafali was hit on her right forearm at the non-striker’s end by Rodrigues’ cross-batted swat. She resumed her innings after some treatment from the physio but was out lbw in the same over, the 13th, playing across the line to a straight delivery from Elysa.
India was so dominant that Malaysia could not string together three dot balls. The only bright spot in their performance was Mandhana’s dismissal. She was early into a pull and lobbed a leading edge to point off medium pacer Mahirah Ismail in the sixth over
