KUALA
LUMPUR: A dominant India sailed into the final of the women's Asia Cup Twenty20
tournament with a seven-wicket drubbing of arch-rivals Pakistan in their last
round robin match here on Saturday.
Opting
to bat, Pakistan innings struggled to get going as India restricted them to
mere 72/7 at the Kinrara Academy Oval.
Left-arm
spinner Ekta Bisht was the most successful India bowler, returning impressive
figures of 3/14 in her four-over spell. The others chipped in with a scalp
apiece, although pace spearhead Jhulan Goswami went wicket-less surprisingly.
Bisht
was named Player of the Match.
Chasing
a meagre target, India completed the task with as many as 23 balls to spare.
Opener
Smriti Mandhana top-scored with 38 off 40 balls while skipper Harmanpreet Kaur
made 34 in 49 deliveries.
India
were given two early blows as veteran Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma failed to
open their account. India were 5/2 in 2.2 overs when Mandhana and Harmanpreet
joined forces to repair the damage.
The
duo added 65 runs for the third wicket, a recovery act that powered the team to
within striking distance of another victory. Even as Mandhana got out with
three runs for win, Harmanpreet was there to guide the side home.
Earlier,
Pakistan's decision to bat did not yield the desired result as they lost wicket
at regular intervals, and were stopped at 72. Sana Mir top-scored for the side
with 20, but she consumed as many as 38 balls.
Opener
Nahida Khan (18) was the only other Pakistan batter to register scores in
double-digits.
This
was India's fourth win in five matches, their only reverse being the shocking
defeat to Bangladesh. But they bounced back in style, winning against Sri Lanka
and Pakistan.
