India vs United Arab Emirates Women’s Asia Cup T20 2024 Highlights: IND beat UAE by 78 runs in Dambulla

Really happy. When I'm playing with Harry di, she guides me about how the ball is coming on. When the opportunity comes to me, I want to just deliver what I know and what I'm practicing. First four from the cover drive was the favourite moment. Yeah I'm feeling good

It was a great experience. Lot of learnings. From the Indian innings, we saw how to build an innings. And also saw how to finish. Using this as an experience to help us learn that. You're never satisfied when you're playing such an opposition because the batting runs deep (talking about the early wickets). Three wickets is a great start but you need to take all 10. We put up a better score against a better side - that means we learnt from our mistakes.

That's it India won the game by 78 runs and this will yet again skyrocket India's NRR. Harmanpreet Kaur's team has now one foot in the semifinals. Unless something dramatic happens in the next couple of days it is hard to see how they won't make it to the next round. UAE on the other hand will be proud of their efforts. They did manage to show some fight in the second innings. They would be hoping the result goes in their favor tonight and they just get over the line against Pakistan in their next game. As of now that's it from our end we will be back with the presentation. 

Even if UAE lose today they are not out of the competition yet. They will still have a chance if Pakistan beats Nepal this evening. But if Nepal beats Pakistan India and Nepal will qualify to semifinal for this group. UAE would be hoping Nida Dar's team beats Nepal so that they have a fighting chance. UAE has played well today despite the loss they can take a lot of confidence from their batting. Yes, there are issues with bowling that need to be sorted out but most of the scores conceded can be attributed to Gosh's power-hitting skill in the final over.

UAE needs 116 runs from 36 balls here. If not for that final over when Richa Ghosh went berserk this could have been a manageable game for UAE. This is not to say it is all over yet but is a step too far and the pitch too seems to be keeping a touch low now. Not something which batters to worry about but something to make a note of. Chasing the massive 202 UAE has looked composed especially Oza first and now Kavisha who is playing some powerful shots and getting boundaries away. The need a couple of 20+ runs overs do UAE to give themselves a chance. 

The partnership is brewing nicely here for UAE. They have stitched over 30 runs together Oza and Kavisha and the need to keep doing till the 16th over and assess the conditions and take it from there. After three quick wickets,, UAE are getting into the game nicely. However, they still have plenty of work to do. Deepti Sharma has been brought into the attack and she is bowling nicely tight over after Radha Yadav's economical over immediately after the drinks break. Oza's innings will be key here for UAE's chance here innings might decide how this game goes. As we update Oza departs.

Oza has gone through the gears here. She is playing blistering shots. The sound the bat is making is sumptuous and she is looking good to make a massive total. She seems pretty relaxed and unfazed despite the wickets falling from the other end and the run rate climbing. India needs to be a touch more careful here while they still have a lot of runs to defend the surface is excellent for batting a one good quick partnership might give momentum to UAE's innings. India need to play and pick Oza's wicket here after the drinks break. 

Deepti Sharma comes into the attack and picks up Dharnidharka. India would consider themselves lucky for that wicket. It was a short ball from the bowler and the batter hit it straight to Tanuja inside the ring. Another one down for UAE. This wickets falling at regular intervals won't help UAE captain's cause either as well. Every time she wants to change gears the responsibility further falls on her to keep anchoring the innings. As we updated Esha Oza hit one a gigantic six. The bat made a sumptuous sound as the ball was deposited into the stands. 

Renuka Singh picked the first wicket. It was Teertha Sateesh who tried to whack the bowler over the top and got holed out at mid-on. As we update Vastrakar picks up Rinitha. The batter tried to give herself room and play the ball through the off-side however, missed the ball completely and got bowled. Two wickets down for UAE in quick succession and this where they need to be careful chasing a big total.There needs to be steady flow of strike rotation instead of batters just finding themselves at one end and looked for boundaries all by themselves. 

UAE has scored a couple of sumptuous boundaries early in the piece but apart from that there has not been much off stike rotation going in between the players. India are chipping away with the overs but they have not bowled any threatening deliveries yet. Pooja Vastrakr is brought into the attack and she started with a hard length delivery which beat the batter Oza. Against Pakistan Vastrakar was exceptional with the new ball and today again she has got that length right which is bowling hard lengths when there is not much of swing on offer. 

Renuka has taken the new ball for India and continued from where she left off in the last game which is to bowl tight lines and lengths. There is not much of a breeze going at this point but  Renka still was able to get some swing. Harman gave her new ball bowler a slip as well. UAE need to start going after the bowling as soon as they can. Since they have a huge target to chase they need to make most of the Powerplay. Tanuja is given the new ball instead of Vastrakar here. She is playing her debut game it will be interesting to see how she handles pressure here. 

Vinayakk: India cross 200 in women’s T20Is for the first time, thanks to a blistering 29-balll 64 by Richa Ghosh, her career best in this format as well.

Well, what a knock Richa Ghosh played in the end which took India to 201/5. It is an excellent knock from here. It is because that innings in the final over took India to such a gigantic total. Since she came into the crease she injected the much-needed momentum in the innings. This is a big total for India and an uphill task for UAE to get these runs. They will need something extraordinary from their skipper Esha to get these runs. A word on skipper Harmanpreet who too played an excellent innings when the Indian team looked in a bit of trouble. 

Harmanpreet Kaur has reached her half-century here. It has been an excellent innings from the Indian skipper. She maintained a nice tempo through the innings. Any hope UAE had when they picked up three wickets they would bundle out India for a low score was proved wrong by Harmanpreet. Now the onus is on the Indian skipper to end the innings on a high and increase the tempo. Meanwhile Ghosh from the other end has raced into their 40s and is nearing her 50. This is a massive total for India already and it will take a special innings from UAE to get these runs. 

Richa Ghosh's cameo here might be too much for the UAE to deal with. She has taken the game away from UAE in no time. If the bowlers don't get their lines and lengths in the remaining overs India can reach 200 which will be way too much to score on this ground. India has not played areal shots it has been neat piercing through the gaps that have brought India to this dominant position in the game. Once again there is not much UAE has done wrong here but they just lacked the skill set to deal with things when the pressure has been applied on them. 

Richa Ghosh has come in and started in fifth gear straight away. She is getting her boundaries away. Just when UAE were thinking they got rid of Jemimah and broke the partnership Richa came in and with her intent rattled the bowlers a bit. The only way the UAE can keep India for a low total is by picking wickets throughout the innings. Oza has come into the attack to bowl she too is tossing the ball up nicely but it is backfiring at the moment as there is no turn on offer and the Indian batters are just giving driving masterclass against here full length. 

There is not much UAE is doing wrong here but Indian batters have started to show their skills here to manipulate the ball in the middle overs and get the odd boundary. Harmanpreet here is doing an excellent rebuilding job. She got the tempo of the innings right. She took her time initially and got the odd boundary every now and then. Meanwhile Jemimah at the other end has played an excellent hand. She has rotated the strike nicely as well. As we update Kavisha picks up Jemimah Rodriguez. A plan that worked for UAE.

Harmanpreet has got her innings underway here. Because of her long reach,, she is sweeping a few balls and getting the boundaries away. Jemimah on the other hand is letting Harmanpreet have the strike and do her thing. The boundaries here in Dambulla are long and these middle overs need plenty of running between the wickets. This is what India is doing perfectly and Pakistan missed when they played India. We have reached drinks break and India is looking good for 180 in 20 overs. 

Leg-spinner Vaishnave has been brought into the attack and he bowled nicely. She tossed the ball up nicely bowling classic leg-spinners. Indian batters also need to be wary of her googly as seems like she is a classic old-fashioned leg-spinner. As per Harmanpreet Kaur and and Jemimah they are rotating strike nicely here and they need to build this partnership here for a while and go after the bowling later. India need to put on about 150-170 runs on this pitch to get a defendable total as the conditions seem excellent for batting.

Well, well there fell two wickets in quick succession for India first it was Shafali Varma who tried to pull the ball against Dharnidarka got the bottom edge and the keeper caught the ball, and then the following delivery Hemalatha tried to play a swipe against Heena, and got the bottom edge and keeper took another excellent catch. India has lost three wickets in the Powerplay now. Despite a quick start,, India has been losing wickets consistently. Harmanpreet and Jemimah India have very experienced players in the middle and need to build a partnership here. 

Smriti Mandhana tried to whack the ball over mid-on and got caught by the fielder. Big wicket for UAE early in the piece the joy on the field was visible. Ideal start for UAE early in the piece. Hemalatha has walked into the middle and UAE would like to pick another one in this Powerplay. Meanwhile Shafali from the other end is going after the bowling she is striking over 200 and Esha needs to watch out  for that as Shafali is one player who can take the game away from UAE in the matter of few overs. 

We are done with the opening over Dharnidarka took the new ball for UAE once again there is a lot of breeze blowing across the ground and there might be some swing on offer for new ball bowlers however, the Indian batters Shafali Varma and Smriti Mandhana were up to the challenge. They were middling their drives nicely in that opening over. Conditions look good for batting UAE skipper Esha might have missed a little bit of trick at the toss opting to bowl first up. If Indian batting fires they might put on a massive total.

The sun is bright out and the temperatures look ideal to play cricket here in Dambulla. India will look to post a massive score given the depth of their batting order and conditions might ease out as the innings go on. In UAE they will be hoping to make use of grass and pick a couple of early wickets

It's sunny and windy. 59 meters all around the ground. This pitch has little bit more grass cover. More green patches. It's dry and hard. Spinners have a huge role to play. There are some cracks in the good length area. Overall, it's a good track to bat.

Esha Rohit Oza(c), Theertha Satish(w), Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Kavisha Egodage, Khushi Sharma, Heena Hotchandani, Vaishnave Mahesh, Rithika Rajith, Lavanya Keny, Indhuja Nandakumar

We wanted to bat only, happy with that. We'll just go with the flow and see how we start. Shreyanka is not playing, she got injured in the last game. In place of her, Tanuja is playing.

We want to bowl first. It's a fresh wicket, we want to use that to our advantage and restrict them. It's important that you learn from the game before. There were quite a few errors in the field. Just want to stick to the basics. Same side.

Team Head Coach Anmol Majumdar when took over the job would emphasize that fitness and fielding of players as the highest priority. “Fielding and fitness are of the highest priority. There is no compromise on fielding or fitness. There will be a lot of camps post this series — a lot of cricket will be played — at NCA or some other place,” he would say at the time.

“When you are playing international cricket, it goes without saying that you have to be consistent. There are no two ways that you field well one day and you don’t field well the other day. The rarity needs to be that you had an off-color day,” Chopra was quoted by IANS.

Former Indian women’s cricketer Anjum Chopra has been critical of the team’s fielding. The 47-year-old would even go on to say the days when the team fields badly should be an “off-color day” but it is the other way around with this India team and when the team does field well everyone says ‘Wow how you fielded so well one day.’

vs Pakistan: July 19, 7 pm IST

vs UAE: July 21, 2 pm IST

vs Nepal: July 23, 7 pm IST

Feeling great and it worked out according to the plan. Bowled in the right areas. As a unit we are doing very well, having camps helped us a lot. I worked on my bowling after the South Africa series which helped. [on getting Nida Dar] She is a good batter and it brings a lot of satisfaction when you get a batter like that. [if she knew she had reached 250 international wickets] No idea.

Our bowlers and openers made it. First game is always a pressure game but we managed it well. Our entire unit played really well. When we are bowling we talk about early breakthroughs and in batting, we look to start well so credit to Smriti and Shafali. Playing fearless cricket, how we played today and we are really happy with the way we played. My knee is fine.

Dominant India will be eager to perfect their tactics further while warding off United Arab Emirates which also can push them firmly towards the semifinals of the women’s Asia Cup on Sunday.

Defending champions India’s supremacy was evident in their facile seven-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday, and the UAE will require a giant-sized miracle to stop Harmanpreet Kaur’s side.

The run-chase seemed like a formality once Shafali and Mandhana started off with good intent. After a blistering 85-run opening stand, India ended up losing three wickets to give Pakistan some solace. It wasn’t to be back-to-back 10-wicket wins for India, and it wasn’t to be back-to-back half-centuries for Mandhana. The elegant left-hander, however, did cross a significant milestone. She went past Harmanpreet to be the leading run-scorer for India in women’s T20Is with 3365 runs to her name. And in the end, India reiterated the favourites tag to win their 8th Women’s Asia Cup title.

India’s ground-fielding was sloppy at times once again, but their catching was mostly solid as they strive to add consistency in that department. Radha Yadav personified that in the 18th over. First she attempted a dive for a catch at backward point but as the ball was falling short of her, she would turn her palms upside down to stop it from going past her. Then, she quickly got back up to complete a direct hit to end Syeda Aroob Shah’s innings. It is the sort of effort Harmanpreet would want to see more often and from more of her fielders.

One of the many positives for India on the night was seeing Renuka Singh Thakur back among the wickets. Even though she went wicketless in the powerplay (an aspect that must still make the management ponder her inclusion in the XI) the pacer bounced back well in the 13th over to finish with two wickets off her last two deliveries. Renuka admitted in the mid-innings interview that she had to work hard with Troy Cooley at the NCA to figure out how to bounce back from dull returns during the home season against South Africa. Perhaps now she’d be able to carry this momentum forward into the tournament.

A total of 108 on a pitch that seemed pretty good to bat on was never going to be enough for Dar’s side, though. Deepti Sharma was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets and walked off with the player of the match honours. But the match was decided in the two powerplays.

Pooja Vastrakar picked up from where she left off against South Africa in Chennai in the last match India played, packing off both the openers with her hard-length bowling, something she’s become adept at. Pakistan’s innings never really got going from there. And then in the run-chase Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma broke the Pakistan resolve nice and early, racing to 57/0 at the end of the powerplay.

The ‘Greatest Rivalry’ is now a familiar refrain from Indian cricket broadcasters when it comes to building up a match against Pakistan. Often though, the action on the field doesn’t live up to the hype. It was one of those occasions on Friday in Dambulla, as Harmanpreet Kaur’s India breezed to a comfortable 7-wicket win against their neighbours to kick off their Women’s Asia Cup title defence.

Coming into the match, Pakistan were right to be hopeful of a closer contest and it must have only improved as Nida Dar won the toss and opted to bat first. The last time the teams met at the T20 World Cup last year, they had India under pressure in a run-chase. In their last meeting at the Asia Cup too, batting first helped Pakistan close out an impressive group-stage win against the eventual champions. But winning the toss was pretty much all the joy they would have until India lost a few cheap wickets towards the back-end of the chase.

Hello and welcome to our live blog between India and UAE at Dambulla on Sunday. While India are coming on back off a thumping win against Pakistan in their opening fixture while UAE has lost to Nepal. It should be a walk in the park for an Indian team, however, the nature of T20's are such that anyone can spring a surprise any day so sit back relax, and enjoy our live blog analysis through the afternoon.