Shafali Verma Shines As India Beat Nepal By 82 Runs To Qualify For Semifinals Of Women's Asia Cup

Explosive opener Shafali Verma slammed a career-best 48-ball 81 as defending champions India thrashed minnows Nepal by 82 runs in their final group match to confirm their semifinal spot at the Women's Asia Cup T20 tournament in Dambulla on Tuesday. With India shuffling the batting order, Shafali and Dayalan Hemalatha (47) opened the innings and gave India a flying start after stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana won the toss and opted to bat. The opening duo smashed its way to 122 in 14 overs to lay the foundation.

Jemimah Rodrigues then hit unbeaten 28 off 15 balls, including three fours in the final over, to take India to a solid 178 for three.

Nepal needed to achieve the target in or under 10 overs to surpass Pakistan on net run rate and qualify for the semifinals but they could only manage 96 for nine in their 20 overs, thanks to some superb bowling from the in-form Indian attack.

Deepti Sharma (3/13) was the most successful bowler for India as she snapped three wickets, while her spin colleague Radha Yadav (2/12) and seamer Arundhati Reddy (2/18), playing in place of a rested Pooja Vastrakar, snapped two each.

Pakistan, thus, became the second team to qualify for the semifinals from group A.

It proved to be a tough chase for Nepal as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals to slip to 52 for 4 in 10.2 overs with seamer Arundhati cleaning up both the openers -- Samjhana Khadka (7) and Sita Rana Magar (18).

Renuka Singh (1/15) then dismissed Kabita Kunwar (6), while Radha removed Indu Barma (14).

Deepti then got into the act, getting rid of Rubina Chhetry (15) and Kabita Joshi (0) and then removed Puja Mahato (2) with a direct throw.

Dolly Bhatta (5) became the second victim of Radha, while a caught and bowl effort