New Delhi: Indian women have scored a hattrick of comfortable victories in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 after defeating UAE. Though some early wickets shook the Indian inning, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma handled the affairs carefully. Indian bowlers were clinical to stop UAE’s inning at 74/4 to register a massive 104-run win.
With Sabbhineni Meghana back in form and Richa Ghosh striking the ball well, India decided to let them open the inning. While Smriti Mandhana did not come in to bat, Shafali Verma and Harmanpreet Kaur enjoyed a rest day. The change in schemes led to a shaky start which was then handled by the experience provided by Jemimah and Deepti. UAE’s 16-year-old Mahika Gaur impressed and made a mark in international cricket with the figures of 27/1 against a formidable batting unit.
Jemimah played with a smashing strike rate and made shot-making look easy, while Deepti rotated the strike and smashed a few boundaries here and there to score 64 off 49. In the 18th over, Deepti went on to hit a full toss when Mahika took a good catch at long-on to end the 128-run partnership. Pooja Vastrakar and KP Navgire gave a fantastic finish with 13 off 5 and 10* off 4 respectively.
To make matters worse for UAE, they started their inning with a run-out in the first over. Adding on to that Rajeshwari Gayakwad showed her class and picked two wickets in an over to push UAE on the backfoot. Khushi Sharma and Kavisha Egodage built a slow partnership in vain as they could score 58 runs in 12.4 overs. A Test match kind of inning came to an end after UAE managed to play the full quota of 20 overs.
Jemimah Rodrigues was announced as the Player of the Match, making it her second in three games she has played after returning to the Indian side. Returning from an injury, she looks fresh and in good touch. Her shot-making will be crucial for India to prepare for the T20 World Cup next year.
