India spinners set up a dominant nine-wicket win over Thailand in the 19th match of the ongoing women’s Asia Cup 2022 in Sylhet on October 10. Sneh Rana bagged 3/9, while Deepti Sharma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad bagged two wickets each in highly economical spells.
Despite showing a cautious approach from the start, Thailand kept losing wickets regularly, with Deepti giving India an opening by dismissing Natthakan Chantham in the third over. Skipper Naruemol Chaiwai was run-out courtesy of a misjudged single to Meghana Singh behind point, while Chanida Sutthiruang was castled for a first-ball duck in a classic off-spinner’s dismissal soon after.
Some lazy running from opener Nannapat Koncharoenkai resulted in her runout for 12, the highest score in an innings, in which no other batter crossed 7.
Smriti Mandhana, leading the side in Harmanpreet Kaur’s absence, dropped herself down the order, with Sabbhineni Meghana partnersing Shafali Verma at the top in the chase. Verma fell to Nattaya Boochatham for eight, before all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar saw India home in company of Meghana with 14 overs to spare.
India, having won five of their six round-robin matches, take the pole position in the points table, followed by Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively, who have won four from five each, and will face off on Tuesday.
Thailand, having registered a historic win over Pakistan earlier in the competition, still have a chance to make it to the semi-finals, if UAE can defeat defending champions Bangladesh in the penultimate league game.
Brief scores
India 40/1 (Sabbhineni 20*, Vastrakar 12*) beat Thailand 37 (Rana 3-9, Gayakwad 2-8) by nine wickets
