DAMBULLA: Renuka Singh and Radha Yadav decimated Bangladesh’s batting unit before Smriti Mandhana’s brisk half-century led India into the ACC Women’s Asia Cup 2024 final.

In the first semi-final of the eight-team tournament, played here at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Friday, India outclassed Bangladesh in all departments to move one step closer to a successful title defence. Seven-time Women’s Asia Cup champions India will face either Sri Lanka or Pakistan as the two teams will lock horns later today in the second semi-final, scheduled at the same venue. The final of the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 will be played on Sunday.  Coming back to the match, Bangladesh, after opting to bat first, struggled against a ruthless Indian bowling attack and could register a paltry total of 80/8 in the allotted overs. The 2018 champions, after getting off to a shaky start, lost wickets at regular intervals and consequently slipped to 44/6 in 13.3 overs. Meanwhile, Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana, who was waging a lone battle since coming out to bat in the fourth over, finally received some support at the other end in the form of Shorna Akter. Sultana and Akter added 36 runs for the seventh wicket before the former finally perished on the first delivery of the final over with 80 runs on the board. Bangladesh captain Sultana remained the top-scorer with her 51-ball 32 which featured two boundaries.

Akter, on the other hand, remained unbeaten with an 18-ball 19. Renuka Singh and Radha Yadav shared six wickets between them and leaked away just 24 runs. Besides them, Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar made one scalp each. Chasing a modest 81, Indian openers came out all guns blazing and steered their side to a perfect 10-wicket victory. Smriti Mandhana was the core aggressor of the match-winning partnership and scored a brilliant half-century while Shafali Verma played an anchoring knock with a 28-ball 26. Mandhana smashed 10 boundaries including a six on her way to a 39-ball 55