Shafali, Deepti Shine As India March Into Asia Cup Final In Dubai

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) India produced a superb all-round performance to outclass Bangladesh in the semifinal on Thursday to book a place in Sunday's final at the 2026 T20 Women's Asia Cup.

In a lop-sided encounter, India rode on opener Shafali Verma's fine half-century (64, 40 balls, 7 fours and 3 sixes) to post 149 for six on a slow wicket at Dubai International Stadium.

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In reply, Bangladesh were never in the hunt, finishing at 109 for seven as India completed a comprehensive 40-run victory.

In a tournament where the highest successful chase was 115 before the start of the semis, India's total against Bangladesh looked imposing.

Bangladesh, though, did make a good start as openers Dilara Akter (21) and Juairiya Ferdous (14) batted confidently against the Indian attack.

But the left-arm spin of Shree Charani (3-0-8-1) did the trick for India as Ferdous fell to a mis-timed slog-sweep in the sixth over after putting on 26 runs for the first wicket with Akter.

Deepti Sharma (4-0-26-3), the hugely experienced offspinner, then knocked the stuffing out of Bangladesh with a fine three-wicket spell.

It was a wonderful night for Deepti who had also scored a crucial 13 off six balls, adding a valuable 21 runs for the fifth wicket with Richa Ghosh (21 off 16 balls).

Earlier, Shafali Verma rode her luck in her half-century, with Bangladesh fielders dropping her thrice.

The 22-year-old took full advantage of the fielding lapses from the opponents and played some wonderful shots to put India on top.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur chipped in with an unbeaten 24 to ensure Indian bowlers had enough runs on the board.

"Happy the way things are going. Happy with the way our batting and bowling is going," Harmanpreet said.

"Spinners from both teams bowled well today and Deepti was excellent with the ball, and got us a few breakthroughs."

Nigar Sultana , Bangladesh captain, rued the dropped catches.

"We fielded well in other games, not today, we put down chances. That was the pressure, I guess, just the bad day for the whole team," Sultana said.

"We really wanted to restrict them to a total we could chase, our batting powerplay was not good too."

In Sunday's final, the seven-time champions will take on the winners of Friday's semifinal between defending champions Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

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