Women’s T20 Asia Cup, India vs Malaysia as it happened: India win rain-curtailed game by 30 runs

India take the top spot on the points table with their win over Malaysia:

Player of the match: S Meghana

4.12 pm: India win! That’s it, play will not be resuming in Sylhet and India have been declared the winners by 30 runs (D/L Method).

3.56 pm: It’s been over an hour since rain stopped play and there still isn’t any update on whether play will resume. We will get back to you as soon as there is any news.

Since Malaysia have batted five overs, we will have a result in this match irrespective of whether play restarts or not.

Malaysia 16/2 (5.2 overs): Oh dear, the dark clouds that were threatening to disrupt play for a while have finally arrived. It’s raining now in Sylhet, the covers are coming on and the players are going off.

Malaysia 16/2 (5 overs): Mas Elysa with a couple of good looking shots already in her brief stay in the middle. And with 5 overs done, India bring on pace. We will have a result in this match.

Malaysia 6/2 (3.1 overs) OUT! Slightly bizarre dismissal. The batter has played on, the bails have fallen off and it took a while for the umpires to figure out what happened there. Wan Julia 1(6) b Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Malaysia 1/1 (2 overs): Gayakwad with another tidy over. India keeping to spin for now.

Malaysia 0/1 (0.4 overs): OUT! That is so unfortunate. For the second straight match the Malaysia captain is given out when she wasn’t. Big inside edge. Winifred Duraisingam 0(4) lbw Deepti Sharma

Dark clouds in the venue, India will really want to get 5 overs done quickly. They start with spin, Deepti Sharma to start off.

India: 181/4 (20 overs): S Meghana & Shafali Verma’s opening partnership laid the platform down, and India finish strongly with Richa Ghosh playing some big shots & D Hemalatha hitting a 4 & 6 to close things off.

2.18 pm: Hemalatha ends the innings with a huge six over long-on. Richa remains unbeaten on a superb 33 off 19. This is the highest total by any team in the tournament so far.

INDIA FINISH WITH 181/4

IND 169/4 (19.2 overs): OUT! Malaysia get another wicket and we get another superb celebration. This time Radha Yadav finds the fielder and Sasha takes a juggling catch at long-on. Skipper Winifred gets her second wicket.

IND 169/3 (19 overs): Syuhada almost had three wickets in four balls! Richa hit it in the air but the catch was dropped.

IND 158/3 (18.2 overs): OUT! Syuhada is on a hat-trick! The 17-year-old has two in two and Kiran Navgire is gone for a first ball duck. Elysa takes a fine catch in the deep and the Malaysians burst into wonderful, heartfelt celebrations again.

IND 158/2 (18.1 overs): OUT! Shafali Verma chops it on and has to walk back for 46 off 39. Syuhada strikes with her first delivery of the match and the Malaysians rejoice again. Shafali had been struggling for form and these runs will hopefully add to her confidence. The new batter is Kiran Navgire.

IND 158/1 (18 overs): Another excellent shot from Richa, Hamizah bowls it short and wide and the right-hander cuts it through the gap for four. But a decent over for Malaysia, eight runs come from it.

IND 150/1 (17 overs): Sloppy work from Malaysia in that over. Left-arm spinner Arianna bowls three wides, with the fielder at point also letting one through for four. Three fours for Richa in that over as India make it the most expensive one of the innings so far.

IND 132/1 (16 overs): Big over for India! Sasha returns to the attack to finish her spell and is hit by Richa for four and six off consecutive deliveries. Powerful sweep shots by the right-hander.

IND 120/1 (15 overs): Richa survives! She was beaten in the air by Mahirah but the keeper couldn’t gather the ball to complete the stumping. But a solid over for Malaysia, just three runs from it.

IND 116/1 (13.5 overs): OUT! Malaysia finally break India’s opening stand as S Meghana departs for an entertaining 69 off 53. Skipper Winifred gets the wicket as Mahirah takes the catch at cover and bursts into a lovely celebration. The new batter for India is Richa Ghosh.

IND 107/0 (13 overs): Off-spinner Elysa joins the attack and bowls a full toss, Meghana hits it for four on the leg side. Malaysia have struggled to contain the number of full tosses they’ve bowled so far.

IND 99/0 (12 overs): Meghana picks a four thanks to a misfield near the boundary, before Shafali walks out and whacks it over long-on for six. Malaysia captain Winifred bowls the most expensive over of the match so far to start her spell, 15 runs come from it. She’s not had a great day so far, having dropped Meghana earlier in the match.

IND 84/0 (11 overs): Mahirah bowls a high full toss and Meghana hits it well over cover for four. The right-hander has got plenty of runs in that region today. Shafali, meanwhile, has moved on to 24 off 21.

IND 77/0 (10 overs): Fifty for S Meghana! She gets her first half-century in T20I cricket off just 38 balls. Two more fours for the right-hander in that over by Arianna. India are in firm control at the halfway stage of their innings.

IND 66/0 (9 overs): Fine over from Mahirah, just four runs from it. Malaysia need more of this to build pressure and possibly get a wicket.

IND 62/0 (8 overs): Left-arm spinner Arianna joins the attack and bows a wide down leg with the Indians running two. But she follows that up with a wonderful delivery that beats Shafali. Eight runs come from that over.

IND 54/0 (7 overs): Shot! Mahirah joins the attack and tosses one up, Shafali stays in her crease and sweeps it powerfully for four. Seven runs come from that over.

IND 47/0 (6 overs): Big over for India! Shafali finally gets going with a six over long-on before Meghana hits one over long-off for four. India find themselves in a solid position at the end of the powerplay.

IND 36/0 (5 overs): Two fours for Meghana in that over – the first one was a square cut in the gap and the second was a drive over mid-on that landed just inside the rope. India need more of this.

IND 28/0 (4 overs): Hamizah strays in line and Meghana clips it past short-fine for four. But just six runs from the over again, Shafali is off to a slow start and finding the fielders in the ring consistently.

IND 22/0 (3 overs): Dropped! S Meghana drives it in the air but the catch is dropped at mid-off. That should have been taken. Six runs come from Sasha’s second over.

IND 16/0 (2 overs): Tidy start from Hamizah, just five runs come from the right-arm medium pacer’s first over. The pitch is slow and low and should get tougher to bat on as the match progresses.

IND 11/0 (1 over): What a shot from S Meghana! It was pitched up by Sasha and the right-hander played a wonderful cover-drive for six. She follows that up with a strong punch through cover for four.

12.59 pm: S Meghana is opening the batting with Shafali Verma today. Both batters are at the crease and we’re ready for play!

Changes for India: Smriti Mandhana, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana and Renuka Singh Thakur make way for Sabbhineni Meghana, Kiran Navgire, Meghna Singh and Rajeshwari Gayakwad.

Malaysia’s playing XI: Winifred Duraisingam (c), Wan Julia (w), Mas Elysa, Elsa Hunter, Mahirah Izzati Ismail, Ainna Hamizah Hashim, Jamahidaya Intan, Nur Arianna Natsya, Sasha Azmi, Noor Hayati Zakaria, Nur Dania Syuhada.

India’s playing XI: S Meghana, S Verma, J Rodrigues, H Kaur (c), R Ghosh (wk), KP Navgire, D Sharma, Radha Yadav, R Gayakwad, D Hemalatha, Meghna Singh.

TOSS: Malaysia captain Winifred Duraisingam has won the toss and opted to bowl first.

Pakistan won today’s first match, against hosts Bangladesh, and this is what the points table looks like now:

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Asia Cup 2022 clash between India and Malaysia in Sylhet.

Harmanpreet Kaur and Co started the tournament with an impressive win against Sri Lanka as Jemimah Rodrigues marked her return to international cricket with a fine knock. The six-time champions will be keen to keep up the momentum and put in another disciplined performance against Malaysia, who lost to Pakistan in their opener.

Squads

India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Dayalan Hemalatha, Richa Ghosh (w), Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh, Sabbhineni Meghana, Meghna Singh, Kiran Navgire, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.

Malaysia: Winifred Duraisingam (c), Wan Julia (w), Mas Elysa, Elsa Hunter, Mahirah Izzati Ismail, Ainna Hamizah Hashim, Jamahidaya Intan, Nur Arianna Natsya, Sasha Azmi, Aisya Eleesa, Nur Dania Syuhada, Nurilyaa Natasya, Noor Hayati Zakaria, Aina Najwa, Dhanusri Muhunan.