New Delhi: India started their T20 Asia Cup campaign in commanding fashion as they defeated Thailand by 94 runs at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. Defending 160, spinners – especially Deepti Sharma – led the way for India much like they were expected to as they choked unfancied Thailand by sharing six wickets to bowl them out for 65.
Nannapat Koncharoenkai put up a fight with her 48-ball 41, but wickets kept tumbling at the other end. Deepti Sharma’s double wicket maiden in the ninth over saw India gain firm control of the match as Thailand were reduced to 44/6.
The finish was looking increasingly inevitable but Thailand were rolled over rather quickly as the batting crumbled. Aiding off-spinner Deepti was left-arm spinner N Shree Charani (2/10), while Nandni Sharma led the contributions in the pace department, finishing with 3/18.
Few things are as satisfying as watching Shafali Verma when on song. Against Thailand, it took her a while but once she switched gears, the 19th half-century in the format was no surprise. Shafali top-scored with 64 off 36 balls and at one point, India looked set to cross 200. However, the rest of the batting order did not contribute to the tally and India ended up with just 159/9.
Pratika Rawal’s T20I debut wasn’t half as bad as the early chatter around her inclusion was but yet again, her strike-rate is something that might be worth keeping an eye on as she plays more games. She scored 22 off 18 as she stitched a 52-run partnership with Shafali.
However, India’s innings after that was a series of baffling dismissals. The collapse saw them lose eight wickets for 46 runs. Starting from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s dismissal, none of the Indian batters got going. Kranti Gaud (15) hit a boundary and a six towards the end. Suleeporn Laomi was the wrecker-in-chief with 3/26, although the effort was in vain.