Dambulla (Sri Lanka): India crushed Nepal by 82 runs in a Group A match of the Women's Asia Cup to progress to the semifinal at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium here.
With this, India secured their third consecutive win of the tournament to top the group with six points.
After Shafali Verma's fiery innings, Indian spinners showed their class against minnows Nepal to advance to the knockout stage of the tournament.
In the 179 chase, Nepal were never in the picture as they lost the opener Samjhana Khadka (7) in the second over by Anurndhati Reddy. Sita Rana Magar and Kabita Kunwar tried to stabilise the side in the Power-play but Reddy gave them another jolt by removing Kunwar (6) in the fifth over.
However, Sita and captain Indu Barma showed some sign of fightback as the duo added 22 runs for the third-wicket partnership. The ray of hope didn't last for Nepal as Radha Yadav broke the stand, leaving them reeling at 43/3 after 9.2 overs.
Sita's stay in the middle didn't last longer as she too was sent back to the pavilion by Reddy in the next over. Nepal lost their half of the side inside 11 overs with more than 120 runs to win.
Things turned from bad to worse for Nepal in the 14th over as they lost Rubina Chetry (15) and Kabita Joshi (0) in the span of three balls off Deepti Sharma. Nepal failed to recover in time and went on to lose wickets at regular intervals and finished their innings for 96/9 in 20 overs. For India, Deepti returned with figures of 3-13 in her four overs while Reddy and Radha bagged two scalps each.
Earlier, Shafali Verma's scintillating half-century (81 off 47 balls) coupled with Dayalan Hemalatha's 47 powered India to 178/3 after opting to bat first.
Shafali and Hemalatha showed no mercy from the beginning of the match. The 20-year-old made her intentions clear in the first over by hitting two fours against Kabita Kumwar's first over. She continued the onslaught from the one end while Hemalatha held the other end strong.
Shafali made sure that boundaries came at regular intervals and showed no mercy to any Nepalese bowler in the middle. Her ferocious batting took India to 50/0 at the end of the Power-play. Shafali flexed her arms and hit Rubina Chhetry for a six on a full toss in the seventh over as she switched gears. In no time, she brought up her 10th T20I half-century off 26 balls in the eighth over.
The youngster didn't look back and intensified her attack as Nepal looked clueless to break the partnership. However, they had a chance to send Hemalatha back to the pavilion in the 12th over but captain Indu Barma dropped the catch at long-off.
