Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur delivered a solid all-round performance as the Indian women’s cricket team defeated Thailand by 66 runs in the Asia Cup T20 tournament, here on Monday.
Put in to bat, India posted 132/4 in the designated 20 overs before restricting Thailand to 66/8 in theirs to record a second successive big win and stay at the top of the points table in the six-nation tournament.
The Indian team, which had hammered hosts Malaysia by 142 runs in its opening match, put up another dominating show.
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The entire top order batting contributed well with Mona Meshram’s 45-ball 32 being the top score.
However, the impact innings of the match was played by the in-form Harmanpreet Kaur, a 17-ball unbeaten 27 which steered India to, what became, a winning total.
Kaur’s knock was laced with three hits to the fence. Smriti Mandhana too continued her fine form for a 22-ball 29, which included one four and a couple of sixes.
Kaur than did the job with the ball as well, grabbing three wickets with her off-spin, yielding a mere 11 runs in three overs. Kaur’s superb all-round performance fetched her the Player of the Match award.
Deepti Sharma also picked up a couple of wickets in her four overs, which went for a mere 16 runs.
For Thailand, Nattaya Boochatham top-scored with a 40-ball 21 but the slow knock was hardly what the team needed in the slam-bang format.
The Thai team just could not break free during the chase, shackled by an accurate Indian bowling attack.
After a rest day on Tuesday, India will take on Bangladesh in its third match of the tournament.
Brief Scores: India: 132/4 in 20 overs (Mona Meshram 32, Harmanpreet Kaur 27 not out, Wongpaka Liengprasert 2/16).
Thailand: 66/8 in 20 overs (Nattaya Boochatham 21, Harmanpreet Kaur 3/11, Deepti Sharma 2/16).
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