Despite the hiccups and not being up to the mark batting performance, Thailand’s batting didn’t possess much of a threat and India managed to win it quite comfortably. In the end, India won by 74 runs with the help of miser bowling by Deepti Sharma, who took 3 wickets conceding just 7 runs, and Shafali Verma’s all-round performance. Now, India awaits the second semifinal between Pakistan and Sri Lanka for the opponent in the finals.
“Although the Thai women did well in restricting India to under 150, the bowlers couldn’t get good support from batters.”
Indian Innings
Thailand won the toss and captain Naruemol Chaiwai (c) decided to field first. Indian batting lineup didn’t exactly dominate the inexperienced Thai bowlers and was slow in approach. The opening stand was brisk at the start as the Mandhana-Verma duo added 38 runs in 4 overs before Mandhana gave her wicket to Sornnarin Tippoch.
Shafali did well on the other end with the able support of the highest run-getter of the tournament, Jemimah Rodrigues. Shafali got quite a few chances as usual and she took advantage of a missed stumping, dropped catch and a half chance of runout. Both added 29 runs before Shafali got dismissed at an individual score of 42(28).
Shafali playing shot in her 42 runs inning (Asian Cricket Council)
Skipper Harmanpreet was the next to come in and both she and Rodrigues had a good partnership of 42 runs. They weren’t looking comfortable and were missing more than hitting. Except for one over where they got 16 runs, most of the overs were cheap.
As Kaur(36 off 30) and Rodrigues(27 off 26) departed after slow-paced innings, other batters were just coming in and going out with not much of options left.
Credit to Thailand bowlers as they did pretty good in restricting India only to 148. Tippoch was the standout bowler who dismissed 3 batters conceding just 24 runs.
Thailand’s Batting
Thailand’s batting was inexperienced and played for the first time at such a big match event(Semifinal). All of this was showing up in the performance. Although the Thai women did well in restricting India to under 150, the bowlers couldn’t get good support from batters.
Deepti opened the bowling for India and she was the standout bowler for the team. In the third over of the innings, she almost took  Nannapat Koncharoenkai’s wicket but Shafali dropped an easy catch.
However, Koncharoenkai couldn’t capitalize on the given chance and was back to the pavilion couple of balls later. Chantham was the next one to get out when she gave an easy catch in deep midwicket.
Deepti Sharma was too good for the inexperienced Thailand batting lineup(ACC)
Thailand’s batting was nothing mention worthy except the good 42 runs partnership between Chaiwai and Nattaya Boochatham for the fifth wicket, but their approach was pretty defensive it lasted for more than 11 overs without any intent towards the run chase.
Rajeshwari Gaikwad bowled well for her to wickets with Renula Thakur, Verma and Rana getting one apiece.
Eventually, Thailand could score only 74 in 20 overs with the loss of 9 wickets. Consolation prize for them as they improved from 37 all out the last time they faced the Women in Blue.
Shafali was declared as Player of the Match.
Good journey for team India so far
Barring the match against Pakistan, India has done relatively good throughout the tournament. No doubt the level of other teams isn’t up to par but India still did well from their side.
A few experiments like shuffling the batting order, and giving captaincy to Mandhana were done in the league phase which is quite understandable given the fewer batting chances that the lower order gets.
Jemimah has been the highest run-getter of the tournament(ACC)
Jemimah has been the tournament’s highest run-getter so far, with 215 runs scored at the strike rate of 138. She has also hit two fifties with the highest score of 76. Deepti Sharma has bowled brilliantly throughout the Asia Cup scalping 13 wickets in the tournament.
Memorable tournament for Thailand
It was quite a historic tournament for the young Thai team as they were in the semifinals of the major tournament for the first time. Besides, Thailand created history by defeating Pakistan during its journey. It has been an amazing story and they would definitely improve from here.
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