UAE women's cricket team captain Esha Oza won the toss and decided to bowl first against India in Dambulla on Sunday (July 21) in the fifth match of the Women's Asia Cup T20 2024. (Match Blog | Streaming | Scorecard)
Explaining why she chose to field, Esha said: "It's a fresh wicket, we want to use that to our advantage and restrict them."
She added: "It's important that you learn from the game before. There were quite a few errors in the field. Just want to stick to the basics."
Her opposing number Harmanpreet Kaur said: "We wanted to bat only, happy with that. We'll just go with the flow and see how we start. Shreyanka (Patil) is not playing, she got injured in the last game. In place of her, Tanuja (Kanwer) is playing."
While UAE are going in with the same team as their previous game, India have handed a debut to Tanuja Kanwer, who comes into the side in place of the injured Shreyanka Patil.
Playing XIs
India Women: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur Singh, Tanuja Kanwer.
UAE Women: Esha Rohit Oza (c), Theertha Satish(w), Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Kavisha Egodage, Khushi Sharma, Heena Hotchandani, Vaishnave Mahesh, Rithika Rajith, Lavanya Keny, Indhuja Nandakumar.
Harmanpreet and Co had registered a comprehensive seven-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in their opener. The Indian team had chased down a target of 109 runs with 35 balls to spare on July 19.
UAE, on the other hand, had slumped to a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Nepal in their first match. Nepal chased down a 116-run target with 23 balls to spare on July 19.
