Dambulla | Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana won the toss and elected to bat against India in the semifinal of the Women's T20 Asia Cup here on Friday.
Defending champions India are on a three-match unbeaten run, having finished on top of Group A with six points after victories over Pakistan, UAE and Nepal.
On the other hand, Bangladesh finished second behind Sri Lanka in Group B after wins over Thailand and Malaysia.
Teams:
India Women: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Uma Chetry, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Tanuja Kanwar, Renuka Singh Thakur.
Bangladesh Women: Dilara Akter, Murshida Khatun, Nigar Sultana(c&wk), Rumana Ahmed, Ishma Tanjim, Ritu Moni, Rabeya Khan, Shorna Akter, Nahida Akter, Jahanara Alam, Marufa Akter.
India pacer Renuka Singh inflicted deep wounds upfront from which Bangladesh never recovered, getting restricted to a massively inadequate 80 for eight in the first semifinal of the women's Asia Cup here on Friday.
Renuka, who bowled four overs on the trot during her 3/10 spell, received ample support from left-arm spinner Radha Yadav (3/14) after Bangladesh elected to bat first.
Renuka struck in the first over itself, dismissing Dilara Akter, whose slog sweep did not have enough power in it to clear Uma Chetry at deep mid-wicket.
In her next over, Renuka got the better of Ishma Tanjim with a delivery that stayed close to her body and a mistimed whip across the line was grabbed by Tanuja Kanwar at short third.
Renuka bagged her third wicket in as many overs with a slightly short of length delivery that Murshida Khatun slapped straight to Shafali Verma at midwicket.
At 25 for three inside the Power Play segment, Bangladesh were falling apart fast and their real hope for a revival was the presence of skipper Nigar Sultana (32, 51b, 2x4), the highest run-getter so far in the tournament.
Sultana hung around resolutely but even she could not offer a meaningful fight to the Indian bowlers, who gave away just seven runs across overs seven and 10 while losing Rumana Ahmed to Radha's quick arm ball.
There was also hardly any backing for Sultana and the excellent line of Indian spinners on the day meant that the right-hander could rarely play her preferred sweep shot.
The defending champions Indians, on their part, fielded vastly better compared to the previous games and Shafali was particularly impressive.
Her forward-diving catch to oust Rabeya Khan off pacer Pooja Vastrakar was from the top draw.
There was a good little partnership of 36 runs for the seventh wicket between Sultana, who was dismissed for the first time in this tournament, and Shorna Akter (19 not out, 18b, 2x4) but it came way too late to make any real difference to Bangladesh's situation. PTI UNG 7/21/2024
Scoreboard of the Women's T20 Asia Cup semifinal between India and Bangladesh here on Friday.
Bangladesh:
Dilara Akter c Chetry b Renuka 6
Murshida Khan c Shafali b Renuka 4
Ishma Tanjim c Kanwar b Renuka 8
Nigar Sultana c Deepti b Radha 32
Rumana Ahmed b Radha 1
Rabeya Khan c Shafali b Vastrakar 1
Ritu Moni c Richa b Deepti 6
Shorna Akter not out 19
Nahida Akter b Radha 0
Marufa Akter not out 0
Extras: 4 (lb-1, w-2, nb-1)
Total: 80/8 in 20 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-17, 3-21, 4-30, 5-33, 6-44, 7-80, 8-80 Bowling: Renuka Thakur 4-1-10-3, Pooja Vastrakar 4-0-25-1, Tanuja Kanwar 4-0-16-0, Deepti Sharma 4-0-14-1, Radha Yadav 4-1-14-3.
