Women’s T20 Asia Cup, India v UAE as it happened: Rodrigues stars as Mandhana and Co win by 104 runs

Player of the match: Jemimah Rodrigues for her unbeaten 75. Her second of the tournament.

UAE 74/4 after 20 overs, India win the match by 104 runs: Chaya Mughal and Kavisha Kumari play out the remaining deliveries. UAE have done well to prevent India from steamrolling them. But India were in control after the first five overs of the afternoon.

WICKET! 17.3: Khushi Sharma 29(50) ct Jemimah Rodrigues b D Hemalatha Here comes the breakthrough. Hemalatha’s tossed up off spin draws a shot from Khushi that goes to Jemimah at long on. UAE 63/4

UAE 63/3 after 17 overs: That’s a lovely shot by Khushi past mid-off for a four in Vastrakar’s over.

UAE 56/3 after 16 overs: Time for D Hemalatha to have a go, the 50-partnership comes up in that over.

UAE 53/3 after 15 overs: There’s another boundary for Kavisha, flicking past midwicket as Vastrakar dropped one on the pads.

UAE 47/3 after 14 overs: That’s some intent. Kavisha comes down the track and hits a lovely shot down the ground for four off Gayakwad. First boundary in nearly 10 overs, the commentators remind us.

UAE 37/3 after 12 overs: Renuka Singh’s over goes for three runs. No breakthrough for India but hard to take wickets sometimes when the batters are not taking risks.

UAE 33/3 after 11 overs: Rana with a 2-run over.

UAE 31/3 after 10 overs: Renuka comes back and nearly has a C&B chance but those are always tough on your followthrough. Just a 1-run over.

UAE 30/3 after 9 overs: Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana bowling in tandem now. A chance for Smriti Mandhana at midwicket in Rana’s over but it flew to her and the Indian captain couldn’t hang on. Khushi gets a life.

UAE 24/3 after 7 overs: No momentum to the innings for UAE. Another 1-run over by Vastrakar.

UAE 23/3 after 6 overs: Deepti Sharma with a tidy first over and that’s the end of the powerplay. Like India, UAE have struggled early on.

UAE 21/3 after 5 overs: Cramps, it would seem for Kavisha. The commentators have been telling us it’s really hot there today in Sylhet. She is OK to carry on after some treatment. Just one run from Vastrakar’s first over.

UAE 20/3 after 4 overs: Couple of fours for Khushi in Gayakwad’s over.

UAE 12/3 after 3 overs: A four for Kavisha off Renuka, playing a good looking late cut.

WICKET! 1.5: Natasha Cherriath 0(3) b Rajeshwari Gayakwad That is far too wily from Gayakwad. Tosses it up nicely, extra bounce, and the batter is deceived by both. Through her defence, onto the stumps. UAE 5/3

WICKET! 1.2: Esha Oza 4(5) ct Pooja Vastrakar b Rajeshwari Gayakwad After a nice shot for four, Esha finds the fielder at mid off, trying to go for another boundary. That travelled quite well actually, solid catch by Vastrakar. UAE 5/2

WICKET! 0.4: Theertha Satish 1(1) Run Out Sneh Rana / Richa Ghosh Superb work by Rana to send a throw in right over the stumps for an onrushing Richa to take the bails off in time. UAE 1/1

India 178/5 after 20 overs: A strong finish. A four for Jemimah to start the over and then KP Navgire helps herself to two fours later on. Should have been run out but survived and a nice little confidence booster there. A 81-ball 128 partnership between Deepti and Jemimah the highlight for India.

India go from 23/3 after 5 overs to 178/5 after 20 overs

India 163/5 after 19 overs: Still no Mandhana, so much for our stat earlier in the blog! Navgire in the middle.

WICKET! 18.4: Pooja Vastrakar 13(5) ct Kavisha Egodage b Esha Oza Blazing cameo by Vastrakar. A six there, a four here and then out. Job done though. India 161/5

WICKET! 17.5: Deepti Sharma 64(49) ct Mahika Gaur b Suraksha Kotte Superb balance from Gaur in the long on boundary. Looked like Deepti had nailed it. Helps that she is a tall athlete but also wonderful judgement. India 148/4

4,4,4 again: This is top class from Jemimah Rodrigues. Second time in this innings she has hit three fours in a row. Has been batting with a swag from the moment she walked out.

Suraksha Kotte’s spin now for the first time. Course correction, but perhaps late from UAE.

India 135/3 after 17 overs: Interesting to see UAE have gone pace heavy today. Esha Oza, only bowling her second over, makes it so hard for two well set batters without providing any pace. Both batters tiring now.

India 128/3 after 16 overs: It is a century partnership now between Deepti and Jemimah. A good over by Vaishnave there after getting hit for a first-ball four by Deepti.

HALF CENTURY: Second half century of the tournament for Jemimah Rodrigues. She has looked in such wonderful touch from the word go. 51* off 33 balls. 118/3 after 15 overs.

HALF CENTURY: A 38-ball half century by Deepti Sharma. Promoted in the order, she has helped India recover from a poor start. Gets to the landmark with a six over midwicket.

India 95/3 after 13 overs: Improvisation done smartly by Jemimah. With the short fine leg in place, she moves across the stumps twice in that over by Khushi and finds the gap behind square for two fours.

India 84/3 after 12 overs: India keep the scoreboard ticking as UAE now go to seamers from both ends. A lovely six by Deepti in that over but she needs some treatment on her arm at the end of it.

India 71/3 after 11 overs: India have recovered well from the chaotic start. Deepti Sharma and Jemimah Rodrigues have added a half century partnership. Six runs from the Khushi Sharma over.

India 65/3 after 10 overs: Vaishnave nearly has Deepti caught at midwicket but the sweep just clears the fielder for four. Time for a drinks break as India make a strong recovery.

India 57/3 after 9 overs: India have recovered well from the early blows, UAE have brought spin but Deepti and Jemimah keep the scoreboard ticking.

India 43/3 after 7 overs: First sign of momentum for India as Jemimah takes on UAE captain Chaya for three straight fours. The skipper’s decision to bowl through her four overs backfires here. 4-0-31-1 for her, 16 from that over.

End of powerplay: India 27/3 after 6 overs – Fine over from Mahika Gaur, fine powerplay for UAE.

STAT: Smriti Mandhana will be batting at the lowest position of her international career today. Has never before batted below No 5 for India across formats.

India 22/3 after 5 overs: Jemimah is the new batter, joining Deepti Sharma in the middle. Still no Mandhana.

WICKET! 4.2: D Hemalatha 1(4) Run Out Oh dear that is shocking cricket from India. Should really have been an easy three as the ball made it slowly to the third boundary, but there is a dive and then a good throw and Hemalatha is caught well short. (Not sure the umpires checked for the boundary there first). India 19/3

Still no Mandhana. Hemalatha is the new batter.

WICKET! 3.3: S Meghana 10(12) ct Theertha Satish b Mahika Gaur Well, well. Huge appeal for a caught behind from UAE camp, and the umpire takes a long time but eventually raises her finger. Meghana didn’t seem to think she hit it, walks off slowly. There did seem to be a noise in real time. India 17/2

India 15/1 after 3 overs: Was a good over from Chaya till a full toss off the last ball that Deepti gleefully put away for four. This is still a really solid start for UAE

India 9/1 after 2 overs: Steady stuff from the left-arm pacer Mahika Gaur. Meghana helped herself to a four there. Deepti Sharma is in at No 3.

WICKET! 0.5: Richa Ghosh 0(1) ct Priyanjali Jain b Chaya Mughal The experimentation to start with Richa doesn’t pay off for India. Captain strikes in the first over, a flick from Richa and a straight forward catch at backward square leg. India 3/1

Richa Ghosh is opening with S Meghana.

Toss interviews: Smriti Mandhana confirms at the toss that Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, Radha Yadav and Meghna Singh are resting today. UAE captain Mughal also says she would have liked to bowl first too.

UAE XI via BCCI: Theertha Satish (wk), Esha Oza, Kavisha Egodage, Natasha Cherriath, Chaya Mughal (c), Priyanjali Jain, Khushi Sharma, Samaira Dharnidharka, Mahika Gaur, Vaishnave Mahesh, Suraksha Kotte.

India XI via BCCI: S Meghana, Smriti Mandhana (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), D Hemalatha, Sneh Rana, Kiran Navgire, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Singh Thakur.

TOSS: India have opted to bat first first.

12.40 pm: Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Asia Cup 2022 clash between India and UAE in Sylhet.

India have played two and won in the tournament so far, defeating Sri Lanka and Malaysia. In the round-robin stage where all teams play each other, the next test for India comes against a young UAE side. Early news is that Smriti Mandhana is leading India today.

India vs Malaysia as it happened: India win rain-curtailed game by 30 runs

IND vs SL as it happened: Jemimah Rodrigues’s 76 propels India to 41-run win

In the earlier match today, Sri Lanka defeated Thailand.

India squad for Asia Cup: 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.

UAE’s squad: Chaya Mughal (c), Kavisha Egodage, Esha Oza, Lavanya Keny, Suraksha Kotte, Natasha Cherriath, Rinitha Rajith, Priyanjali Jain, Theertha Satish (wk), Indhuja Nandakumar, Khushi Sharma, Rithika Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Vaishnave Mahesh, Mahika Gaur

Screenshots / photos in the blog courtesy Disney+Hotstar and ACC Media