Shafali Verma's 49-ball hundred lifts India to 195 in the Asian Games semi-final

Shafali Verma hit nine sixes in an unbeaten hundred from 49 balls to leave Bangladesh chasing 196 for a place in the Asian Games gold medal match

India made 195 for 4 from their 20 overs in the second semi-final of the Asian Games Women’s Cricket Competition at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on Sunday, after Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and chose to bat.

Shafali Verma finished on 100 not out from 49 balls, with three fours and nine sixes, having reached her fifty from 24 of them.

Bangladesh need 196 to reach the final, where Sri Lanka are already waiting. India are defending the title they won at the last Asian Games.

Seventy-two from the first six overs

Shafali and Smriti Mandhana put on 72 in 36 balls, a stand that was broken only by the last delivery of the powerplay.

Mandhana made 37 from 19, five of them fours, before she went for a slog sweep off Nahida Akter and was caught at deep midwicket.

Gunalan Kamalini then made 3 from 10 balls and India were 85 for 2 in the ninth over, the only period of the innings Bangladesh controlled.

A hundred from 49 balls

Shafali had 34 from 17 balls by the end of the powerplay and took the innings away from there, clearing the ropes nine times in all.

One six off Nahida Akter caught the tone of it: she danced down the pitch, got to the ball on the full and hit it straight back over the bowler’s head.

It follows the 40 not out from 15 balls with which she finished India’s quarter-final against Japan, an innings that took five overs.

India played 39 dot balls in the 120 and still finished at 9.75 an over, the difference being how far Shafali hit the ones she did not leave alone.

Ninety-four with Harmanpreet Kaur

The stand that settled the match was worth 94 from 55 balls with the captain, who made 40 from 33 with six fours.

Harmanpreet Kaur fell at 179 for 3 in the 18th over, and Richa Ghosh went for 2 in the 19th, both wickets coming with the score already beyond Bangladesh’s reach.

Bharti Fulmali finished 9 not out from five balls, a six among them, as India took 10 from the last over.

Bangladesh find nothing in the pitch

Nahida Akter took two of the four wickets but conceded 49 runs, and Marufa Akter went for 43 from her four overs for one.

Rabeya Khan took 1 for 35 from her four overs and Sanjida Akter Meghla conceded 34 without a wicket, the tightest of the Bangladesh bowling on the day.

India hit 14 fours and 12 sixes between them, on a surface that had already been used for the first semi-final earlier in the day.

Sri Lanka are already through

Chamari Athapaththu’s side beat Pakistan by eight wickets in the first semi-final at the same ground, chasing 178 and finishing on 181 for 2 with 13 balls to spare.

Athapaththu was unbeaten on 83 from 50 balls with seven fours and six sixes, after Ayesha Zafar’s 71 from 40 had taken Pakistan to 177 for 4.

India beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs in the Women’s Asia Cup final in Dubai this month for an eighth title, and the two beaten semi-finalists here meet in the bronze medal match.

Bangladesh have still not completed a match in Japan: their quarter-final against China was abandoned on a wet outfield and they went through as the higher-seeded side.

India reached the last four by bowling hosts Japan out for 57, Shree Charani taking 4-10, in a tournament played as a straight knockout with no group stage.

Scorecard: India Women 195 for 4 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 100 not out, Harmanpreet Kaur 40, Smriti Mandhana 37; Nahida Akter 2-49) v Bangladesh Women, 2nd Semi-Final, Korogi Sports Park, Nisshin.

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