DUBAI, August 31 — Deepti Sharma took three wickets without conceding a run as India opened their Women’s T20 Asia Cup campaign with a 94-run victory over Thailand on Sunday. Playing her 150th T20 international, the off-spinner finished with 171 career wickets to move ahead of Thailand’s Thipatcha Putthawong in the women’s T20I list.
India made 159 for nine before dismissing Thailand for 65 in 16.1 overs. Shafali Verma’s 64 from 36 balls supplied much of the batting momentum, while Deepti’s short, decisive spell completed a bowling performance shared across the attack.
Seven balls, three wickets, no runs
Deepti’s figures were 1.1–1–0–3: one over and one ball, one maiden, no runs and three wickets. In cricket notation, 1.1 overs means seven legal deliveries, not a decimal fraction of an over.
Two wickets in the ninth over brought her level with Putthawong on 170. Returning in the 17th, she dismissed Nannapat Koncharoenkai with her first ball to end the innings and take the outright lead.
Koncharoenkai made 41 of Thailand’s 65, accounting for most of the resistance. Nandani Sharma took three for 18, Shree Charani two for 10 and Kranti Goud one for 26, ensuring that the result was not dependent on a single bowler.
The batting concern behind the comfortable result
Thailand chose to field. India’s middle order then suffered a sharp reversal: the score moved from 108 for three to 137 for nine, a loss of six wickets for 29 runs. The last pair helped lift the final total to 159 for nine.
Shafali struck eight fours and three sixes. After her dismissal at 112 for four, Richa Ghosh fell with the score unchanged. Suleeporn Laomi’s three wickets helped prevent India’s fast start from becoming a much larger total.
The scorecard therefore contains two different messages. India’s bowling produced a comprehensive margin and a major individual milestone; the batting lost control after a strong opening half. Those late wickets are a clearer area to address than the final winning margin alone suggests.
The victory gives India a successful start in Group A. It does not erase Thailand’s effective work in the latter part of India’s innings, nor does one group result settle the tournament.
Archive photograph: Deepti Sharma bats against Bangladesh at the WACA Ground, Perth, on 24 February 2020. Bangladesh wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana is behind the stumps. This is not the Thailand match. Photo: Bahnfrend, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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