Shafali Verma and Shree Charani lead India Women into Asian Games semifinals

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Defending champions India secured a place in the Asian Games women’s cricket semifinals following a comfortable eight-wicket victory against an inexperienced Japanese side.

Driven by Shree Charani’s bowling figures of 4/10 and Shafali Verma’s all-round performance, India dismissed Japan for just 57 runs before racing to the target in five overs. The victory sets up a semifinal encounter against Bangladesh on September 20.

Shafali starred in the short run-chase, smashing an unbeaten 40 off 15 deliveries alongside Richa Ghosh, who contributed a quickfire 12 from six balls. Japan managed some moments of celebration after removing opener Gunalan Kamalini and one-down batter Bharti Fulmali early in the innings, showing strong spirit despite defending a small target. However, the experience of Shafali and Ghosh easily carried India to victory without further alarm.

Opting to field first, the Indian spin attack dismantled the Japanese batting lineup, allowing only three boundaries throughout the entire 20 overs. Facing elite opposition, Japan’s batters struggled to find their rhythm, generating just 24 runs in the powerplay with two boundaries, one of which came off a slip edge.

Indian spinners dominate Japanese bowlers

Left-arm spinner Charani sparked the collapse in the seventh over, dismissing opener Haruna Iwasaki for 10 and captain Mai Yanagida on consecutive deliveries to record her career-best T20 figures.

Shafali Verma then contributed with her off-spin, registering figures of 2/13. She removed Japan’s top scorer Ayaka Kato-Stafford (25) and Shimako Kato in the 15th and 17th overs respectively, as their attempts at aerial shots were caught by Indian fielders. A turning pitch offering sharp bounce, combined with poor running between the wickets that led to two run-outs, further hampered Japan’s progress.

The pitch also offered turn and bounce, making the job of Japanese batters that much more difficult against a set of highly skilled Indian bowlers. There were a couple of run-outs too, making matters all the more complicated for the home batters, who often struggled for proper coordination while running between the wickets.

In the other semifinal scheduled for Sunday, Pakistan will take on Sri Lanka, who earned their spot by defeating Malaysia by 86 runs in their quarterfinal clash.

(With inputs from PTI)

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