Kuala Lumpur: India women began their T20 Asia Cup campaign with a thumping 142-run victory over Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
If Mithali Raj’s unbeaten 97 off 69 deliveries was the highlight of India’s batting innings, Indian bowlers wrecked havoc on Malaysia’s batting line-up to bundle them out for just 27 runs in the second innings.
Medium pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who hails from Madhya Pradesh, picked three wickets in three overs giving away just six runs and Poonam Yadav, who bowled two maiden overs, and Anuja Patil grabbed two wickets each in what was a demolition of Malaysia’s batting.
Having won the toss, India elected to bay and scored 169/3 in 20 overs, riding on Raj’s 97 not out and then bowled out Malaysia in just 13.4 overs to grab their first win at Kinrara Academy Oval.
Only five Malaysian batswomen opened their account and none could manage to make a score in double-figures. As many as six Malaysian batters got out for a duck. Sasha Azmi top-scored with nine runs from 10 balls.
Malaysia lost half of their side within five overs, reducing to 12 for 5. Captain Winifred Duraisingam (5 off 21 balls) and Zumika Azmi (4 off 15 balls) stayed at the crease for long without any substantial contribution as India completed a massive victory.
Earlier, India did not have the best of starts as they were 35 for 2 just after the Powerplay overs with both Smriti Mandhana (2) and Vastrakar (16) back in the hut.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur then joined Raj at the crease and gave the impetus to the Indian innings with her 23-ball 32.
But the day completely belonged to India’s ODI skipper Raj, who batted through the 20 overs with a strike rate of 140.57. She hit 13 fours and a six in her 69-ball unbeaten knock.
She, however, could not find the boundary in the last two overs when she was eight runs away from a century.
Mithali’s 86-run stand with Harmanpreet came off just 53 balls and she closed the innings off with Deepti Sharma (18 not out). India will next take on Thailand on Monday.
