Women's Asia Cup semi-final: India beat Bangladesh to enter final

India continued their unbeaten run and marched into their sixth final in six editions of the Women's T20 Asia Cup after beating Bangladesh by 40 runs in an error-laden semi-final in Dubai on Thursday. After India were put in on a slow pitch, Shafali Verma scored 64 off 40 balls, making full use of the reprieves she got on 6, 11, 50 and 56. The knock helped India post a formidable 149 for 6 even though most other batters struggled for timing.
Juairiya Ferdous and Dilara Akter came out with positive intent but once the spin was introduced, they too felt powerless. India helped them by dropping four catches of varying difficulty, but Bangladesh did not have someone like Shafali to take advantage of those. In the end, they could reach only 109 for 7.
Marufa Akter was impressive once again with the new ball. Apart from her stock inswinger to the right-hand batter, she also showed off her legcutter, which beat Shafali's outside edge a couple of times. Opening the bowling from the other end, offspinner Sultana Khatun produced two chances in her very first over. Fahima Khatun dropped Shafali at long-on but Smriti Mandhana was not that fortunate. Shorna Akter caught her miscued aerial attempt at mid-on.