A win was expected for Harmanpreet Kaur-led side even before the first ball was bowled. Rain played spoilsport but the Indian side turned out to be lucky as over five overs were bowled in Malaysia's run chase. Apart from Malaysian players’ spirited celebrations, Indian opener Sabbhineni Meghana’s maiden T20I half-century was the highlight of the day in Women’s Asia Cup 2022 encounter.
Malaysia skipper Winifred Duraisingam won the toss and opted to field first at Sylhet Outer Cricket Stadium, Sylhet. Skipper Harmanpreet included Meghana in the side in place of star opener Smriti Mandhana. Meghana got an early reprieve as she got dropped at mid-off in the third over off Sasha Azmi’s bowling when she had scored just 14 runs.
Meghana dominated an inexperienced Malaysian bowling lineup. Just before the halfway stage, she got to her maiden T20I half-century from 38 deliveries. The 26-year-old lost her wicket in the 14th over. Skipper Winifred lured her into a drive she could not control and got caught at extra cover. She scored 69 runs from 53 deliveries which included 11 fours and one six. She shared a 116-run opening partnership with Shafali Verma.
After Meghana's wicket, Shafali could not score freely. Richa Ghosh, who got promoted to no.3 made optimal use of the opportunity. Ghosh found boundaries with ease whereas Shafali slowed down. Her innings came to an end in the penultimate over. Nur Dania Syuhada got her wicket off the first ball he bowled in the innings. She also got the wicket of Kiran Navgire off the very next ball. Radha Yadav managed to survive the hat-trick delivery.
Radha hit a couple of boundaries in the over. She got dismissed by Winifred in the final over. Dayalan Hemalatha got a promotion in the batting order as well and hit a four and six in her four-ball stay at the crease. On the other end, Ghosh remained unbeaten for 33 off 19 deliveries including one four and three sixes. India posted 181/4 on the board, the highest total in the history of Women's Asia Cup T20 2022.
Malaysia were not expected to come anywhere close to the target and their start to the run chase did not indicate otherwise. Deepti Sharma got Winifred out for a four-ball duck in the first over. Rajeshwari Gayakwad struck in the fourth over to dismiss Wan Julia in the fourth over. Mas Elysa scored three boundaries in the unbeaten 14-run knock.
Before rain stopped play, Malaysia were 16/2 after 5.2 overs. The play could not resume and India were lucky that five overs had been bowled already. Maybe that was the reason why Harmanpreet introduced two spinners in the powerplay overs to get through five overs quickly and Meghna Singh came to bowl only after.
Malaysia were obviously way behind the par score after 5.2 overs and ended by losing the match by 30 runs as per Duckworth Lewis Stern (DLS) method. The big win also helped them stay at the no.2 spot, just behind arch-rivals Pakistan on the basis of net run rate (NRR).
