Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur delivered a solid all-round performance as India defeated Thailand by 66 runs in the Asia Cup T20 tournament at Kuala Lampur on Monday.
Put in to bat, India posted 132/4 in the designated 20 overs before restricting Thailand to 66/8 to record a second successive big win and stay at the top of the points table in the six-nation tournament.
The Indian team, which had hammered hosts Malaysia by 142 runs in its opening match, put up another dominating show. The entire top order batting contributed well with Mona Meshram’s 45-ball 32 being the top score.
However, the impact innings of the match was played by the in-form Harmanpreet Kaur, a 17-ball unbeaten 27 which steered India to what was a winning total.
Kaur’s knock was laced with three hits to the fence. Smriti Mandhana too continued her fine form for a 22-ball 29, which included one four and a couple of sixes. Kaur than did the job with the ball as well, grabbing three wickets with her off-spin, yielding a mere 11 runs in three overs. Kaur’s superb all-round performance also fetched her the Player of the Match award.
Deepti Sharma also picked up a couple of wickets in her four overs, which went for a mere 16 runs. For Thailand, Nattaya Boochatham top-scored with a 40-ball 21 but the slow knock was hardly what the team needed. The Thai team just could not break free during the chase, shackled by an accurate Indian bowling attack. After a rest day on Tuesday India will take on Bangladesh in their third match of the tournament.
Brief scores: India 132/4 in 20 overs (Mona Meshram 32, Harmanpreet Kaur 27*, Wongpaka Liengprasert 2/16) beat Thailand 66/8 in 20 overs (Nattaya Boochatham 21, Harmanpreet Kaur 3/11, Deepti Sharma 2/16).
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