Women's Asia Cup 2022: India crush Thailand by 9 wickets

The Indian cricket team on Monday registered a cakewalk win over the Thailand side in their final match of the group stage. The women in blue displayed a dominant show on the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium as they wrapped the contest by 9 wickets. With this win, the Indian team registered a big milestone in T20I cricket.

Inviting Thailand to bat first on the ground which hosted a rain-curtailed morning match, the Indian team wreaked havoc. The pitch aided the spinners but the Indian spinners were all over the Thai batters. The trio of Sneh Rana, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma took shared seven wickets between them with Rana scalping the most- 3 wickets. She was also adjudged as the Player of the match. 

Coming out to bat, it was not a big task for the batters. Though India lost Shafali Verma but S Meghana and Pooja Vastrakar took India across the line inside 6 overs. The match saw Smriti Mandhana marking her 100th T20I appearance and she also led the team on Monday in Harmanpreet Kaur's



absence.

With this win, the Indian women have shattered their previous record of the quickest win (in terms of balls left) in T20Is and registered a new feat. The women earlier had the record of the quickest win when they defeated Australia in 2011 with 58 balls remaining. Now, they have bettered their record as the Indian eves sealed the contest against Thailand with 84 balls to go. 

The women in blue now have 5 wins in 6 games and are at the top of the points table. They had already qualified for the semis when they won the previous game and now are likely to finish in the top spot. Meanwhile, Thailand is in trouble now as their net run rate has gone to -0.949. Their semifinal spot is in danger and they are now dependent on Bangladesh vs UAE result. If Bangladesh win, Thailand is out but if Bangladesh lose, Thailand will make it through. Along with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have also made it to the final four. The two semifinals will be played on October 13 at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, Sylhet. The women in blue will play in the semifinal on October 13.