India have defeated Nepal by 82 runs in their final group match of the women's Asia Cup T20 tournament in Dambulla.
India Women Squad: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur Singh, Tanuja Kanwar, Arundhati Reddy, S Sajana, Uma Chetry, Asha Sobhana
Nepal Women Squad: Samjhana Khadka, Sita Rana Magar, Kabita Kunwar, Indu Barma(c), Rubina Chhetry, Roma Thapa, Puja Mahato, Bindu Rawal, Kajal Shrestha(w), Kabita Joshi, Kritika Marasini, Rajmati Airee, Mamta Chaudhary, Dolly Bhatta, Sabnam Rai
For all the streaming details about the IND-W vs NEP-W match, you can get it right HERE.
> If Nepal score 150, they restrict India to 77 or below. That way, Nepal will end with a NRR of 0.868 & India 0.850 (Pak 1.102).
> If Nepal chase down a target of 151 and win with at least 10 overs to spare, Nepal will end with 0.931 & India 0.908 (Pak 1.102)
No Harmanpreet Kaur today as she is rested with vice-captain Smriti Mandhana taking the leadership mantle. IND-W win the toss and elect to bat first.
Mandhana at the toss, "We'd like to bat first today. In the last few years, T20 cricket has changed. It's a collective effort, we've looked to take on whatever is in our range. The outfields are quick, the tracks are flat, sometimes even 200 isn't enough. We'll look to trust our process and look to bat. 180 will be great, it's about playing one ball at a time. Harman and Deepti are resting."
We are ready for both. We have some youngsters who are keen to get into the contest. We are ready for every challenge, we look to give our 100%. We have two changes.
India Women (Playing XI): Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana(c), Dayalan Hemalatha, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, S Sajana, Radha Yadav, Tanuja Kanwar, Renuka Thakur Singh, Arundhati Reddy
Nepal Women (Playing XI): Samjhana Khadka, Sita Rana Magar, Kabita Kunwar, Indu Barma(c), Dolly Bhatta, Rubina Chhetry, Puja Mahato, Kabita Joshi, Kajal Shrestha(w), Sabnam Rai, Bindu Rawal
Smriti Mandhana is not opening with Shafali Verma as Dayalan Hemalatha makes way.
Shafali Verma-Dayalan Hemalatha have started off nicely, with an unbeaten stand against Nepal bowlers.
Score after 5 overs
INDW - 48/0
IND-W are looking are untroubled and headed for another big score as Shafali Verma and Dayalan Hemalatha eyeing a 100-plus stand.
Score after 10 overs
INDW - 91/0
An 100-plus opening stand from Dayalan Hemalatha and Shafali Verma saw India women post 178 for the loss of three wickets against Nepal women in Dambulla. Remember, NEP-W need to chase this down inside 10 overs. A tough task indeed.
Nepal women have lost two wickets in this phase, while chasing 179. Kabita Kunwar (6) and Samjhana Khadka (7) were the batters dismissed.
Score after 5 overs
NEPW - 29/2
Nepal Women require 131 runs in 60 balls and have seven wickets in hand against India Women. They lost their skipper Indu Barma and have a mountain to climb against a potent IND-W attack.
Score after 10 overs
NEPW - 48/3
India Women are three wickets away from sealing an emphatic victory in this Group A encounter. Nepal Women need 109 runs in 30 balls and have three wickets in hand.
Score after 15 overs
NEPW - 70/7
Nepal Women finish with 96/9 in their 20 overs as India women qualify for the semis with a thumping 82-run victory. Shafali Verma and the bowlers were instrumental for the reigning champions against their associate hosts.
INDW 178/3 (20)
NEPW 96/9 (20)
I am proud of my team. The effort we put in, we realised our weakness and will come back stronger. It was a great exposure to play against India. I am happy with my team, after 10 overs the bowlers got good momentum and restricted them to below 200. We got good experience from this tournament by playing against India and Pakistan. We made some good memories.
I backed my strength and the execution was good. The consistency is improving but I could have finished the innings today. Double hundred is big for any batter and I got plenty of confidence from that innings, I wasn't in good form before that but the innings helped me get back my confidence.
As an opener you don't get lot of games where you don't bat. Much needed game time for all the other batters. The middle order hasn't got to bat in the previous games. The conditions were different and it is always to have game time. The middle order didn't get time in the South Africa series as well, so good they could spend some time in the middle. The preparations started post WPL, there are a lot of fine tuning till we play the World Cup. They always had a smile on their face, sometimes with the amount of cricket we play we forget to enjoy the game, they played some good cricket and hopefully they keep improving and we get to play them often. You don't take any team lightly, we have two days to rest and practice before we go out and apply ourselves.
India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are through to the semis whereas tomorrow's fixtures will eventually decide whether Bangladesh are joining them or not. We could have a potential IND-W vs PAK-W in the final. Till then, it's goodnight from us here.