Deepti Sharma spearheads the charge as India women sail into the Asia Cup final

On a surface with a bunch of shenanigans, the Indian women carefully treaded the cracks to surpass the likes of Thailand in an askew encounter clinching a berth in the final of the ongoing Asia Cup. It needed some tight bowling by the unit to defend what seemed like a modest score but the job was done handsomely, thanks to Deepti Sharma who led the show for the Women in Blue.

Thailand won a crucial toss and asked India to bat first. Smriti Mandhana couldn’t get going and the Indians had to brave some early storm with Shafali Verma battling alongside Jemimah Rodrigues to steer them to safety. Unfazed by the departure of Verma, the Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur did a decent job of carrying the show forward with Jemimah Rodrigues imposing herself on the contest. A late charge from Pooja Vastrakar dragged India to a competitive 148 that needed a solid defense from the Women in Blue to surge ahead.

Despite a constricted batting approach, the Indian women had no fuss in hurting Thailand's ambitions as Deepti Sharma struck twice to remove the openers for cheap, and despite Chaiwai’s resilient show, the Indian all-rounder added another scalp to her exploits by removing Sornnarin Tippoch. Deepti Sharma was the star of the show with the ball in her hand as she claimed 3 crucial wickets while Rajeshwari Gayakwad registered figures of 4-1-10-2 to complement her perfectly.

Chasing 149, Thailand could only score 17 runs from the 8 overs of Sharma and Gayakwad combined and that was the denting blow to their ambitions as their batters had very little firepower remaining in their shed to get the remainder of the equation under control. The Indian women will be playing the winner of Sri Lanka versus Pakistan in the second semi-final slated to be played later today.