Bangladesh collapse to 81 all out as India win Asian Games semifinal by 114 runs
Bangladesh's hopes of reaching the final of the women's cricket event at the Asian Games ended in Aichi Prefecture, Japan on Sunday, as India secured a place in the gold medal match with a commanding 114 run semi final victory.
India, having won the toss and elected to bat first, laid the foundations for a dominant total through an aggressive opening stand between Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, who put on 72 runs before Bangladesh managed a breakthrough.
During that stand, Mandhana moved to the top of the all time run scoring charts in women's international T20 cricket, surpassing New Zealand's Suzie Bates, who had previously held the record with 4,758 runs.
Nahida Akter eventually broke that partnership, though the damage during the powerplay had already been done, with India continuing to score freely as Shafali anchored the innings from one end throughout.
Mandhana departed for 37 off 19 balls, while Gunalan Kamalini contributed only three from 10 deliveries before being caught by Sanjida Akter Meghla, leaving Shafali and captain Harmanpreet Kaur to steady the innings further.
Harmanpreet fell agonisingly short of a half century herself, striking 40 off 33 balls including six boundaries before Rabeya Khan removed her, with Marufa Akter later dismissing Richa Ghosh late in the innings.
Shafali, however, continued unaffected at the other end, eventually reaching a maiden century in the tournament, the first century recorded by any batter in women's cricket at these Asian Games.
She finished unbeaten on exactly 100 from 49 balls, striking three fours and nine sixes, guiding India to a formidable total of 195 for four from their full allocation of 20 overs.
Chasing that target, Bangladesh required an explosive start of their own, but instead found themselves under immediate pressure as India's bowlers claimed two wickets inside the opening ten runs of the innings.
Juairiya Ferdous departed without scoring, while Sobhana Mostary fell for just four, leaving opener Dilara Akter to try and rebuild the innings largely on her own against a disciplined Indian attack.
Dilara's own effort ended at 27 from 23 balls, a dismissal that effectively extinguished any realistic hope of a Bangladesh recovery, with the rest of the batting order struggling badly to make any meaningful impact.
Only Sultana Khatun managed to reach double figures among the remaining batters, finishing with 12, as Bangladesh were eventually bowled out for just 81 in 15.4 overs to complete a thoroughly one sided contest.
The defeat marked Bangladesh's second semi final loss to India inside just eleven days, having also fallen to the same opponents in the semi final of the Asia Cup on September 10.
Bangladesh have not been eliminated entirely from medal contention, however, with the side set to face Pakistan in the third place play off as they look to salvage a bronze medal from the tournament.
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, secured their own place in the final earlier in the day by defeating Pakistan, setting up a gold medal match against India once the semi final stage had concluded.