Shafali Verma made a quick-fire 47 while Deepti Sharma returned with promising figures of 3/7 as India defeated Thailand by 74 runs to enter the final of the Women's Asia Cup at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
With this win, India have retained their record of featuring in all the Women's Asia Cup finals so far. This is the eighth edition of the continental tournament and India have six titles to their bag and will hope to make it seven on Saturday. In the final, India will meet the winner of the second semifinal between Pakistan and Bangladesh which will be played today.
After India posted 148/6 in their 20 overs on a sluggish pitch, their bowlers produced another stunning show to restrict Thailand to 74/9 in their 20 overs.
Deepti Sharma (3/7) did most of the damage with her off-spin, picking up the first three Thai wickets -- Nannapat Koncharoenkai, Natthakan Chantham and Sornnarin Tippoch -- in consecutive overs.
Medium pacer Renuka Singh (1/6) then cleaned Chanida Sutthiruang as Thailand's chase fell apart.
Captain Naruemol Chaiwai (21) and Nattaya Boochatham (21) showed some resistance with the bat with a 42-run stand for the fifth wicket but the asking rate was too tall. In fact, they were the only two Thai batters to register double-digit scores.
Once the duo departed, the Indian bowlers just ran through Thailand lower-order batting line-up.
Rajeshwari Gayakwad (2/10), Shafali Verma (1/10) and Sneh Rana (1/16) were the other wicket-takers for India.
Earlier, asked to bat first, Shafali Verma made 42, while skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues contributed 36 and 27 respectively to reach 148 for 6 in 20 overs.
Sornnarin Tippoch was the best bowler for Thailand with figures of 3/24.
(With agency inputs)