In a dominating display, Indian women registered a comprehensive 10-wicket victory against Bangladesh in the Semi-Finals of the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 to make it through to the Finals. In a total of Nine editions of the competition, this will be India’s Ninth appearance in the Finals.

Renuka (3-10) and Radha (3-14) powered India’s clinical show with the ball as Bangladesh were restricted to 80/8. India chased down the total in just 11 overs, with Mandhana reaching yet another fifty, while Shafali was undefeated on 26.

Electing to bat, the Bangladeshi batters never got going. Renuka Thakur got India off to a wonderful start removing the top three batters cheaply. Bangladesh struggled to find any sort of momentum with the bat. They struggled to even rotate the strike, let alone boundaries. Nigar Sultana and Shorna Akhter were the only Bangladeshi batters who managed to reach double-digit scores.

At the halfway stage, Bangladesh were tottering at 32 for 4. They needed to press on the accelerator, but none of their batters stood up to the occasion. Skipper Sultana stood at one end, while wickets fell continuously from the other. Shorna Akhter scored some useful runs at the back end to take the score to 80, but as expected it was never gonna be enough against the 7-times Asian Champions India. Radha Yadav capped off the Bangladesh innings with a double-wicket maiden.

The chase, as expected was a cakewalk for India. Smriti took charge and scored a flurry of boundaries as India wiped off 50 percent of the runs inside the first 5 overs. Jahanara got Mandhana caught at backward point on 35, but the pacer had overstepped. It, however, would not have made a lot of difference to the chase as the result was a foregone conclusion.

Mandhana hit three successive fours off Nahida in the 11th over and sealed the chase to help India to a historic Ninth Asia Cup final. India will now wait for the results of the 2nd semi-final and will be raring to defend their title on Sunday.

Brief scores: Bangladesh 80/8 (Nigar Sultana 32; Renuka Singh Thakur 3-10, Radha Yadav 3-14) lost to India 83/0 in 11 overs (Smriti Mandhana 55*, Shafali Verma 26*) by 10 wickets.