Asian Games: Shafali, Bowlers Help India Set Up Gold Medal Clash Against Sri Lanka

Asian Games: Shafali, bowlers help India set up gold medal clash against Sri Lanka (Asian Games: Shafali, bowlers help India set up gold medal clash against Sri Lanka)

Shanjida Akter Meghla: A stellar hundred from Shafali Verma and strong bowling outings from Nandni Sharma, Deepti Sharma and Sree Charani powered India women to a comfortable win over Bangladesh in the Asian Games semifinal on Sunday, moving into the gold-medal clash against Sri Lanka.

Shafali smashed her maiden white-ball century and became the first female cricketer to hit a ton in the Asian Games as her unbeaten 100 helped the Women in Blue rack up a strong score of 195/4. The bowlers backed that stellar effort as Nandni and Deepti starred with three wickets each, while No. 1 T20I bowler Charani scalped two, bowling Bangladesh for 81 runs and registering a strong 114-run win.

Harmanpreet Kaur's Indian side will now meet Chamari Athapaththu's Sri Lankan team in the gold-medal final, a repeat of the previous edition of the Asian Games final and the recently concluded Women's Asia Cup final. India are the defending gold medallists of the continental showpiece, having won the yellow metal in the 2023 Hangzhou Games.

Shafali and Smriti provided the Women in Blue with yet another strong start after India opted to bat first. Mandhana scored 37 from 19 balls as the duo put up 72 for the opening wicket in the powerplay before the Southpaw sliced one to deep mid-wicket to fall on the last ball of the powerplay.

G Kamalini could make the most of her brief stay, struggling before holing one out to deep mid-wicket to fall for three. However, Shafali continued in the same vein and was joined by captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who held one end up while the opener did the majority of the damage.

Shafali smashed her maiden limited-overs century on the last ball of the innings with a single off Shorna Akter. The opener smashed three fours and nine sixes in her stroke-filled knock to take the Women in Blue near 200.

Shafali's nine sixes also set the record for the most by a woman cricketer in T20Is in a calendar year. She surpassed Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu in the record list and now has 35 maximums in 2026.

Coming into the game, the Indian opener had hit 26 sixes and was six behind Athapaththu's 32 maximums of 2024. The star Indian batter surpassed the Sri Lankan skipper with her stellar knock.

The bowlers did a strong job as well. Nandani struck with her first ball in the second over, removing Juairiya Ferdous, caught at covers for a golden duck, before Kranti Gaud had Sobhana Mostary caught off a miscued pull at mid-wicket on four.

Dilara Akter took Nandani for a four and a six in the next over and then Kranti for a couple of consecutive fours, but Sree Charani came to get captain Nigar Sultana caught at mid-on for nine.

The Indians kept striking at regular intervals, with Shreyanka Patil dismissing Shorna Akter for five in the seventh over, as Bangladesh were reeling at 43/4 after 7.

Deepti and Nandani accounted for the next three dismissals, with the off-spin all-rounder removing Dilara for 27 before the pacer got two in two in the 11th over. She first caught and bowled Nahida Akter, then cleaned up Rabeya Khan as Bangladesh stared down the barrel.

Charani got Sharmim Akhter stumped in the 14th over, and it was only a matter of time before India bowled the opposition out when Deepti landed the final two blows with the wickets of Marufa Akter and Shanjida Akter Meghla in the 15th over to power India to an 114-run win.

The Women in Blue will now compete against Sri Lanka in the final on Tuesday, with Bangladesh facing Pakistan in the bronze-medal match on the same day.

Charani got Sharmim Akhter stumped in the 14th over, and it was only a matter of time before India bowled the opposition out when Deepti landed the final two blows with the wickets of Marufa Akter and Shanjida Akter Meghla in the 15th over to power India to an 114-run win.

India 195/4 in 20 ov (Shafali Verma 100*, Harmanpreet Kaur 40; Shanjida Akter Meghla 1-25, Rabeya Khan 1-35) beat Bangladesh 81/10 in 15.4 ov (Dilara Akter 27; Deepti Sharma 3-7, Nandni Sharma 3-25, Shree Charani 2-7) by 114 runs.

Article Source: IANS