IND vs NEP, Women’s Asia Cup T20 2024 Highlights: India beats Nepal by 82 runs, confirms semifinal berth

Nepal was barely given any time by the Indian bowlers to settle down as Arundhati Reddy clean bowled Samjhana Khadka in the second over itself. Renuka Singh Thakur got her first of the match after she sent back Kabita Kunwar back to the dugout. There were flashes of brilliance and sprinkles of hope, with skipper Indu Barma, opener Sita Magar, and Rubina Chhetri getting some runs on the board, but the Indian bowlers made sure to prevent Nepal from reaching triple digits. Radha Yadav came towards the second half of the innings and picked up two wickets, as Deepti Sharma starred with the ball once again with three scalps.

India tops the group with three wins in as many matches as Pakistan ends the group stage as runners-up of Group A.

Deepti with her last over. And she takes her third WICKET as she catches Shrestha off her own delivery. Sabnam Rai comes in. There was a long wait to see whether Sabnam was in her crease when Richa stumped her, and she was inside at the nick of time. Another run out opportunity, that too at the last ball, but that’s given not out. India beats Nepal by 82 runs.

Poor fielding from Shafali as she concedes a FOUR. Arundhati ends her spell with a dot ball.

Tanuja with her last over. Just the two runs from the over as Tanuja’s spell comes to an end. She conceded just 12 runs in her four overs.

Radha back and she picks up another WICKET! Dolly tries to steer it but an edge and Richa comfortably catches it. Kajal Shrestha in at the crease. Three runs from the over.

Sajana bowling her first over. Bindu cuts it for a FOUR as she hits it towards third man. Unlucky last ball of the over as the slightest of edges gets the ball past Richa and goes for a FOUR towards long stop.

Renuka for her last over, and she concedes a FOUR as Puja hits it very fine. Brilliant throw from Deepti to find the stumps as Nepal loses another WICKET, this time Puja having to walk back.

Rubina walks down the pitch to hit Deepti for a SIX, but next ball, she gets played on! Another WICKET for India. Kabita Joshi comes in to bat. Deepti gets another WICKET as Joshi has to walk back. The bowler pitched the ball right at the batter’s feet and finds her leg before the wicket.

Tanuja with the ball. A brilliant over as the diminutive India spinner concedes no runs.

Radha back for her second over. Rubina adds another FOUR to her kitty as she drives it through the extra covers, past Arundhati at mid off. 

After Magar hit Arundhati for a FOUR, the pacer gets the middle and leg stumps plum to send the Nepal batter back to the dugout. A great delivery to get India’s fourth WICKET. Puja Mahato comes in to bat. 

Radha with her first over and she sends skipper Indu Barma back to the dugout for 14. The batter tries to hit it big but doesn’t get enough distance as Shafali is there at long on to catch it and give India its third WICKET. Rubina Chhetri the new batter at the crease as she hits Radha for a FOUR towards point. A dot ball to end the over.

Deepti back. Nepal needs to ramp up their scoring rate as just three runs from this over by the spinner.

Tanuja back with the ball. Magar hits the spinner with for a FOUR as she swings her bat and finds the long off boundary. 

Deepti Sharma comes into the attack. Just the one run from the over.

Tanuja replaces Arundhati. Possible run out call, but Magar is safely in. Just two runs from the over as PowerPlay ends.

Renuka with her third over. WICKET! Kabita has to walk back as she tries to lob one over mid off but only finds Smriti’s safe hands. Skipper Indu Barma comes in and starts off with a FOUR, and backs it with another FOUR. 

Magar is off the mark with a FOUR as she slices it towards point, clearing the fielders. Arundhati with the ball. Kabita joins in as she lobs it over mid off for a FOUR. The over ends with a single.

Renuka back. Great bowling from the Indian pacer as she bowls a maiden over.

Arundhati Reddy with the new ball, in place of Pooja Vastrakar. Shafali fails to catch Samjhana as the batter hit it straight in the air down the ground. WICKET! Arundhati swings one inside and finds Samjhana’s leg stump after scoring just seven runs. Kabita Kunwar the newest batter at the crease. 

First ball and Samjhana hits Renuka for a FOUR towards mid wicket. But that was all from the over as Renuka makes sure to not concede more boundaries.

It’s Samjhana Khadka and Sita Rana Magar at the crease.

An interesting card for India today. Skipper Smriti Mandhana opted to sit out the batting innings knowing there were teammates who needed some time out in the middle. Beneficiary of this was Hemalatha who scored a career-best 47 off 42 balls. But the first half of this innings was the Shafali Verma show, with the opener looking in fine touch scoring a 48-ball 81. Striking at 168.75, her form is a big plus for India in the run-up to the World Cup. India looked set to score in the 190-range but Nepal’s spinners managed to peg things back with a slow wicket helping them a bit. 

Sajana looked out of sorts, with plenty of misjudgement in line and length. She fell for 10. A robust 15-ball 28 from Jemimah took India to 178/3. 

Nepal had its blips in the field but it was an encouraging showing from the side to react to tough conditions positively. 179 is a tall ask for its inexperienced batting order but they will hope to give it their all before bowing out of the tournament.

I liked the challenge because in training, we practise for any position at any time. We didn’t try anything, because bowlers were slow, pitches were slow. Shifu and I were discussing and just decided to go with the flow.

As a team we’re going to go all out and we’ll bowl our best balls. 

Sabnam Rai will end the innings. Jemimah starts with a boundary. Jemimah shuffles across and swats the ball to the leg side for FOUR. Couple of singles to follow. She gets one more through midwicket two balls later. Steps across outside off, down on one knee, swatted to the onside. Beautiful template this. A single to finish it off. Nepal needs 179 to win.

Kabita to bowl out. Couple of singles to start. Plenty of movement across the crease for Sajana and it catches up with her. Sajana shifts across, goes on one knee and cops the ball on the pads. No DRS for her to appeal this. She has to make her way back. 

WICKET Sajeevan Sajana lbw b Joshi 10 (12b 1x4 0x6) SR: 83.33

Richa Ghosh is the new batter. Gets a wide to begin. She then finds the boundary throhgh extra cover. FOUR. Beats a diving Indu Barma who gets a consolatary pat from Rubina Chettry for her effort. Nine runs and a wicket off this over in total. 

Sabnam Rai returns. Two singles. Sajana goes down the ground for FOUR now. Good shot this. Sajana then tries to scoop the ball but it goes to the keeper who puts it down. Looked like a solid chance and Sabnam is livid. Single for Sajana. Jemimah rounds off the over with a boundary. She steps outside off to pick the length and swats it to the legside fence. 

Kabita Joshi returns. Jemimah goes across and paddles the ball fine to the boundary. There’s a fielder going after it but won’t be able to save it and she is aghast. Eight runs off the over in total. 

Sita Rana Magar continues and will begin with the joyous wicket of SHAFALI VERMA. She’s well out of her crease and tries to come down the ground to swing the bat, misses and the keeper does the rest. Replays confirm. Shafali will not make her century today. 

WICKET Shafali Verma st †Shrestha b Magar 81 (48b 12x4 1x6) SR: 168.75

A good over for Nepal as only four runs are given. 

Barma bowls out. Eight runs come off the over. Shafali is in the eighties now. Are we heading towards a century? 

Magar returns. Hema takes a single. Shafali comes down the ground to whack the ball through deep midwicket. FOUR. Nice swipe from Hemalatha but she finds the deep midwicket fielder. Two singles follow. And Sita Rana Magar thgen gets a wicket, Hemalatha falls short of her fifty, holing out to Rubina Chettry who fumbles it a bit but still holds on. 

WICKET Dayalan Hemalatha c Belbashi b Magar 47 (42b 5x4 1x6) SR: 111.9

Sajeevan Sajana is the new batter in. Asia Cup debut for Sajana. 

Barma returns. Starts with two runs for Shafali who is in the sixties. She then runs one with a lofted shot over the circle to cover. She hits Hema on the body as she goes down on knee to sweep, but the ball would evidently miss the stumps. Hemalatha then runs a single through the leg side. Shafali also swats the ball over short mid on, single. 

Six runs in total from this over. India cruising to another big score. It’s only a matter of time before they get fearless. 

Sita Rana Magar returns. Shafali starts with a single. Two dots to Hema. Hema breaks free by smacking it down the ground. Indu Barma runs in and gets her hands on it but it spills. She does well to try and keep the ball away from the ropes. But the point she’s pushing the ball back, her body is in contact with boundary. How unfortunate. It was a solid effort especially after dropping the catch. FOUR. Magar is trying to loop the ball a bit. Two singles to end the over

Indu Barma returns. Goes short and wide of off and Hemalatha has cut it for FOUR. Uppish through point. She then drives the next ball to long on for a single. Shafali is happy to do the boundary hitting dragging it from outside off stump to the midwicket boundary. FOUR. Barma recovers to give away just one run more but expensive from the skipper. 10 runs come off the over. 

The experienced Sita Rana Magar comes on. Seventh different bowler now in 10 overs. She begins with a wide. Gives away two singles and a dot ball. Six runs off this over in total. Time for drinks

Indu Barma brings herself on. A dot. A single. A dot. A single. Keeping this pair quiet. Valuable given the projected score is in the 190s. Two singles follow. Good over, just four runs come off it. 

Kabita Joshi returns. Shafali geta a single through long off. Hema gets a loose ball. Nicely thumped to the deep midwicket fence. Hema then gets a single through cover. Shafali then drills the ball down the ground, through mid on for FOUR. She then runs a single through long on to bring up her fifty. Hemalatha then says, anything you do, I can also do Shifu! BIG SIX over long off. 

Rubina Chettry into the attack now. Hemalatha has swapped her helmet for a cap. Hemalatha swats the ball flat to midwicket for a single. Shafali shows no respect to Rubina Chhetry. Pitched outside off. Shafali has smacked it for SIX. Couple of singles and Shafali is again given a ball outside off, fuller this time. Slog sweep out, ball goes to the deep midwicket fence. FOUR. A single to end the over. 14 runs off it. 

Kabita Joshi to round off the PowerPlay. Shafali gets a single to begin. Three dot balls follow. A hurried single is run to bring up the India team fifty. Just two runs conceded. Good over for Nepal. 

Puja Mahato into the attack and she thinks she’s trapped Shafali but umpires not interested. It looked like it hit the bat first. Inside edge it felt like. Shafali recovers in the way she knows best. With a boundary. Nicely flicked to deep backward square leg for FOUR. A single follows. Puja then goes wide. Hemalatha looks a bit tentative as she steps out and drives. Looks like she hesitated for a second to judge the length. Manages to drive well, find the gap and get FOUR runs through cover. Two runs follow. Puja then bowls a wide for height. A dot to finish. India cruising at over nine runs and over now, 

Sabnam continues. Two dots. Shafali whips out the straight drive, powerfully struck past the nonstriker to the ropes. FOUR. Wide. Sabnam angles the ball too much off leg. Sticks to the leg side line and Shafali is happy to flick it to the midwicket fence for FOUR. Sabnam straightens up this time with the ball gently moving straightish to off-stump line, Shafali drives to the short cover fielder. 10 more runs in this over. 

Kabita is back. Hemalatha drives to cover, but the fielder stops it. Just a single. Shafali get the boundary off the next ball though, going over the circle, over mid-off for FOUR. Two singles and a two runs follow. Shafali and Hema happy to rotate strike. Shafali then cuts the ball, trying to go square but finds the cover fielder. Just a single. 10 runs coming off this over. 

Sabnam Rai, who is back in the XI after missing out in the last game, is given the ball. Starts with two dots to Hemalatha. Goes short, Hema pulls but finds the square leg fielder. Good of Nepal to test Hemalatha this way. It’s what the Indian think tank has sent her to fix, that funk that’s not allowing her to stick on. Follows it up with another dot. Was fielding at silly point, but the communication is not good enough to finish the single. Shafali walks over and has a word with her.
Hema breaks free with with a boundary thulped through mid off. FOUR. Goes short to finish the over and Hema goes aerial. Has no distance and it will land safely in midwicket. 

Dayalan Hemalatha and Shafali Verma come out to open for India. Kabita Kunwar will open the bowling. Starts with a ball angling into the leg stump. She flicks it for a single. Kabita goes full to Hemalatha but the ball stays low and she misses. Hema recovers. Another length ball straying outside off, Hema comes onto the front foot and drives through cover for a single. Good stride here. Shafali, who is well outside her crease, is gifted a fuller wide-ish delivery which she slashes for FOUR. Kabita then drags the pace back a bit and beats Shafali. But a full toss off the last ball and Shafali has sent that to the midwicket rope. Strong start for India. 

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar have been given a rest, as said by Smriti Mandhana. In their place, Arundhati Reddy and Sajeevan Sajana come in.

India wins the toss and elects to bat first.

Both sides have met only once in the past which saw India absolutely decimate the Nepal side. It was back in the 2016 edition of the T20 Asia Cup when the Women in Blue clinched a 99-run win after cleaning out the Nepal women’s side for just 21 runs.

The India vs Nepal Group A match in the Women’s T20 Asia Cup 2024 will be LIVE telecast and streamed on the Star Sports Network and the Disney+ Hotstar platform respectively.

From group A, India and Pakistan look set to qualify to the semifinals. 

India faces Nepal in the final group A fixture of the Women’s Asia Cup. India will look to finish the group stages unbeaten while Nepal will nurse ambitions of an upset or at least run their neighbours close in this clash to round out their campaign.