India Vs Pakistan: Ekta Bisht, Harmanpreet Kaur Script 7-Wicket Win For India

India Women on Saturday continued their tremendous form in the Women’s Asia Cup T20 tournament in Malaysia as they defeated the arch-rivals Pakistan by 7 wickets to enter the final. Needing 73 runs in 20 overs to win the match, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur scored an unbeaten 34* to help her side in setting up an easy win. In the first ball of the 17th over, with the India eves needing 3 runs to win, Kaur finished it off in style with a boundary.

Both the sides had won three matches in the tournament before the fixture and each had lost one against Bangladesh. The clash was a virtual semifinal with the winner set to book a spot in the final of the Asia Cup. Ekta Bisht, who was declared the man of the match, rattled Pakistan after the side led by Bismah Maroof decided to bat first. Bisht took 3 wickets for 14 runs in her spell of four overs, as India shackled the opponents in chains.

Apart from Sana Mir’s 20 and Nahida Khan’s 18, no other Pakistan batswoman scored runs in double-digit, as they reached 72/7 in their 20 overs. Bisht dismissed Javeria Khan (4), Natalia Pervaiz (3) and the wicketkeeper Sidra Nawaz (5) in the match. Shikha Pandey, Anuja Patil, Poonam Yadav and Deepti Sharma took one wicket each.

India stuttered at the beginning of the chase with the in-form Mithali Raj getting dismissed on duck in the first over by Anam Amin. Amin struck again in the third over as she dismissed Deepti Sharma for a duck as well. But Smriti Mandhana and Kaur settled the nerves and ensured they do not lose too many wickets. The duo added 65 runs before Mandhana was dismissed for 38. But by then, it was a too late for Pakistan to get back into the match.

India will face the winner of the match between Malaysia Women and Bangladesh Women in the final on Sunday.