Rain plays a spoilsport; IND-W through to the semis of the Asian Games

On Thursday, India Women locked horns against Malaysia Women in the quarter-final of the Asian Games at Hangzhou. Batting first in a rain-curtailed affair, India posted a daunting total of 173/2 in 15 overs, riding on Shafali Verma’s blistering half-century. Verma (69 off 37) thrashed the listless Malaysian bowling attack all-around the park, guiding her team to a formidable score. The stand-in captain, Smriti Mandhana (27 off 16), joined hands with the swashbuckling batter to stitch a power-packed 57-run opening partnership in just 5.2 overs.

After the fall of Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues (47* off 29), with her elegant strokeplay, carried on with the momentum. The last two overs of the innings produced 30 runs as the hard-hitting wicketkeeper batter Richa Ghosh blasted 21* off 7, hammering three fours and a six.

Setting a target of 174, the Women in Blue were certainly in the driver’s seat. While they would have fancied their chances of cruising to the semi-final with a clinical win, rain played a spoilsport as it poured after Pooja Vastrakar bowled the first two deliveries in the second innings.

Despite the match yielding no result, India advanced to the semi-finals because of its better seeding (4th in ICC T20I rankings) than Malaysia (27th in ICC T20I rankings). The semi-final will be played on Sunday.