Women’s Asia Cup: Oh, Ghosh! Richa ‘batted beautifully’

India’s Richa Ghosh sweeps one during her unbeaten 66 off 29 balls against UAE in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, yesterday. Pics/PTI

Contrasting fifties from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh were complemented nicely by the bowlers as India notched up a massive 78-run win over UAE in their second match of the ongoing women's Asia Cup T20 tournament here on Sunday.

Invited to bat, Kaur played the sheet anchor's role to perfection with a 47-ball 66, while Ghosh produced a late charge with an unbeaten 29-ball-64 to power the defending champions to 201 for five, their first-ever 200-plus score in T20Is. The bowlers, led by Deepti Sharma (2-23), then produced a clinical show to limit UAE to 123 for 7 as India planted one foot in the semi-finals.

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur celebrates her 50 v UAE yesterday

With two wins in as many games, India occupy the top spot in Group A with four points and have a Net Run Rate of +3.298.

India play Nepal on Tuesday

India will play their third and final group game against Nepal on Tuesday.

Harmanpreet blasted seven fours and a six, while Ghosh slammed as many as 12 boundaries and a maximum, including five consecutive hits to the fence in the final over off left-arm spinner Heena Hotchandani. Kaur stitched two crucial partnerships, adding 54 off 39 balls with Jemimah Rodrigues and 75 off 45 balls with Ghosh to put India in a commanding position. Chasing the daunting total, opener Esha Rohit Oza scored a 36-ball 38 (5x4, 1x6) but UAE never were in the chase as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

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Harmanpreet said her focus was on "rotating the strike" as India were initially in a spot of bother at 52 for 3. "It's a great feeling. When Jemi and I were batting, we said we had to run hard rather than just going for risky shots. Our focus was on getting seven to eight runs per over," Harmanpreet said.
"When Richa came, I just told her to keep watching the ball and see how the wicket is playing. She batted beautifully. My role was just to stay on the pitch and keep rotating strike. Credit to Richa, it's because of her that we reached the target," she added.

Player-of-the-match Ghosh credited Kaur for guiding her in the middle. "Harry [Harmanpreet] di tells me how the ball is coming on and how to play the shots," she said.

‘Huge learning for UAE'

UAE skipper Esha Rohit Oza said it was a huge learning for her team. "There were a lot of learnings. How to build an innings, that's something we saw first-hand, and how to finish games. This is what we need to work on," said Oza.

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No. of fours India's Richa Ghosh hit during her 64 not out

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