Shafali stars with bat as India thrash Thailand by 94 runs in Asia Cup opener

The gulf in quality between the two teams was considerable — a nine-place difference in the T20I rankings underlined it — but Thailand still managed to expose some of the frailties that had bothered India at the Women’s T20 World Cup. Chief among them was India’s overwhelming dependence on their openers.

Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma were the only Indians among the World Cup’s top 10 run-scorers. They began the Asia Cup in much the same vein. India raced to 38 from their first 17 deliveries, 19 of those coming from Mandhana off just 10 balls, before she was run out off the 18th delivery of the match.

Shafali ensured the momentum did not suffer. The Powerplay brought India 65 runs. Her partners could not match either her range of strokes or her power, but Shafali continued undeterred. Pratika Rawal, making her T20I debut before playing a game in the Women’s Premier League, scored a 22-ball 18, her strike rate of 122.22 paling beside Shafali’s.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur blew hot and cold in England. And cold it was, on this occasion as well, losing her wicket to Thipatcha Putthawong, who led the women’s T20I wicket-takers’ leaderboard at the time. Despite the repeated setbacks, Shafali had taken India’s score to 112 in 12.4 overs before losing her wicket. In the subsequent 44 deliveries, India mustered only 47 runs.

Bharti Fulmali’s attempt to take her WPL form into international cricket continued without much success, as she made 13 from 14 balls. Her T20I career remains in its infancy, but she has crossed 20 runs only once in seven innings.

Richa Ghosh’s stay lasted a solitary delivery. Her recent T20I form has hardly been encouraging, and three of her four T20I ducks have now come in the Women’s Asia Cup.

On her 150th T20I appearance — only two women have represented India more often — Deepti Sharma made five. Prema Rawat, on her second international appearance, scored a run more.

And so, in the post-Shafali phase of the innings, India unravelled from 112/3 to 137/9. The next 22 runs owed as much to India’s Nos 10 and 11, Shree Charani and Kranti Gaud, as they did to Thailand’s underwhelming fielding.

Stronger suit

Bowling, meanwhile, was unlikely to be a source of anxiety. India had recorded the second-best bowling average at the T20 World Cup. That, coupled with Thailand’s highest-ever score against India being 74, had hinted at the second phase of the game being a foregone conclusion. It was.

Gaud, fresh from etching her name on the Lord’s honours board, needed only five deliveries to provide India their first breakthrough. The more efficacious pacer in this game, however, was her partner, Nandani Sharma. The 24-year-old had benched the pair of Renuka Thakur and Arundhati Reddy — combined 119 T20Is between the pair — and showed why with figures of 4-0-18-3.

Deepti, who India would ideally want to contribute more with the bat, made her historic appearance even more memorable with three wickets, taking her to the top of the women’s T20I wicket-takers’ list.

Then there was Charani, the supporting act in this game, who has increasingly become a protagonist in her own right. Among players from Test-playing nations, no bowler has taken more T20I wickets this year than the left-arm spinner. She took two wickets in this game.

With a margin that large, searching for shortcomings can easily resemble desperate nitpicking. But Harmanpreet, more than most, will know that the scoreline cannot obscure the immense room for improvement, with more difficult fixtures coming up.

Brief Scores: India Women 159/9 (Shafali Verma 64; Suleeporn Laomi 3/26) defeated Thailand 65 all out (Nannapat Koncharoenkai 41; Deepti Sharma 3/0) by 94 runs.