On the back of Pooja Vastrakar's mind-blowing spell of bowling, the Indian women's cricket team overpowered Bangladesh by a huge margin of eight wickets in the first semi-final on September 24 (Sunday). With the victory, India have assured themselves of at least a silver medal at worst and will now square off against the winner of the second semi-final (Pakistan vs Sri Lanka) in the gold medal contest. It was a vintage performance from India as they carried out a complete demolition of the Bangladesh women's cricket team in a high-pressure game.
Right from the onset after India were asked to bowl first, Smriti Mandhana's brigade was locked in and relentless in their approach. Vastrakar stunned Bangladesh with a fiery opening burst with the new ball and put India in the driver's seat straight away. The right-arm medium pacer registered her best-ever figures and finished with four wickets in as many overs while conceding just 17 runs in the process. Vastrakar proved too hot to handle for Bangladesh, who were bundled out for just 51 runs in 17.5 overs.
For Bangladesh, it was a disastrous display by them with the bat. Apart from skipper Nigar Sultana, who scored 12 runs, none of the other batters managed to even score in double digits. A total of five Bangladesh batters failed to even open their account, including the two openers.
For India, Titas Sadhu, Amanjot Kaur, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Devika Vaidya chipped in with a wicket each.
The target of 52 runs was never going to be challenging for India. Openers Mandhana (seven runs off 12 balls) and Shafali Verma (17 runs off 21 balls) combined for a 19-run opening stand. Both the opening batters were dismissed cheaply and Jemimah Rodrigues, who walked in to bat at No.3 ensured that the team sails to the promised land without suffering any further setbacks. Rodrigues remained unbeaten on 20 runs off 15 balls while Kanika Ahuja remained unbeaten one run of two balls.
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