India Reach Sixth T20 Asia Cup Final After Dominant Win Over Bangladesh

India Women secured a comfortable 40-run victory over Bangladesh Women in Dubai to march into their sixth consecutive T20 Asia Cup final.

India Women Innings

Total: 149/6 in 20 overs. Top Scorer: Shafali Verma (64 off 40 balls) Key Bowling: Sultana Khatun led Bangladesh's attack with 2 for 30.

Match Flow: Put in to bat on a slow pitch, Shafali rode her luck through four dropped catches to smash a 35-ball half-century. Despite middle-order struggles from Pratika Rawal (20 off 24) and Harmanpreet Kaur (24* off 28), late bursts from Richa Ghosh (21) and Deepti Sharma (13*) propelled India to 149.

Bangladesh Women Innings

Total: 109/7 in 20 overs Top Scorer: Shorna Akter (22* off 18 balls) Key Bowling: Deepti Sharma took 3 for 26, supported by N Shree Charani who delivered a wicket-maiden (1/14) to pick up her 50th T20I wicket.

Match Flow: Bangladesh got off to a steady start before India's spinners stemmed the run flow. Deepti broke through the middle order, taking crucial wickets to trigger a collapse where Bangladesh lost three wickets for 17 runs. Despite India dropping four catches in the field, Bangladesh were restricted to 109/7.

The result was all but sealed by then. But India, too, were sub-par in the field, right from the start. In the very first over of the chase, Rawal had dropped an overhead catch at cover-point to reprieve Dilara. Later on, she dropped Mostary at backward point. Mandhana misjudged a boundary catch as well, before Ghosh and Nandani Sharma collided while going for one near square leg. On another day, these mistakes could have proved costly.

Result: India Women won by 40 runs and advanced to the final.