Dubai, Sep 10 (IANS) Opener Shafali Verma slammed a fiery 64 off 40 balls as India recovered from early stumbles to post a competitive 149/6 in their 20 overs against Bangladesh in the first semi-final of the Women's Asia Cup at the Dubai International Stadium here on Thursday.

On a slow pitch, where conditions aided spinners and every other batter struggled to time the ball well, Shafali was calculative in her shot selection – playing mostly in the ‘V’ – to hit seven fours and three sixes to reach her 20th T20I fifty. Her innings was also a blend of brute force and wristy bottom-hand power, apart from playing an inventive reverse sweep.

Bangladesh, though, will have themselves to blame as they dropped Shafali on 6, 11 and 56 and also missed a straightforward run-out chance. In all, they had a sloppy fielding unit performance. With run-scoring tough on the pitch, India will fancy her chances to enter the final on Sunday.

Invited to bat first, India got off to a quiet start as Marufa Akter conceded just seven runs in the opening over, as Shafali opened her account with a flicked four. But Bangladesh got a breakthrough in the second over when off-spinner Sultana Khatun removed vice-captain Smriti Mandhana for two, who top-edged a catch to mid-on.

Sultana had previously dropped a sitter off Shafali on the third ball of the same over. Shafali capitalised on the reprieve by hitting back-to-back sixes off Sultana in the fourth over before Pratika Rawal joined the act with a cover-driven four off Marufa.

Pratika then launched leg-spinner Rabeya Khan over cow corner for a maximum in the sixth over to take India to 45/1 at the end of the Powerplay. The 50-run partnership for the second wicket came up in the tenth over before Rabeya broke the stand by removing Pratika for 20, as her top edge was caught by cover.

After skipper Harmanpreet Kaur survived a direct hit on her very first delivery after a mix-up with Shafali at the non-striker's end, the latter brought up her half-century off 35 balls in the 13th over. She smashed two consecutive boundaries off Sultana before the off-spinner finally had a catch when substitute fielder Farjana Easmin took the catch at deep mid-wicket.

Richa Ghosh provided late-order impetus, clearing the ropes off Rabeya and Shorna Akter in her 16-ball 21 before being stumped by Nigar Sultana off Nahida Akter in the 19th over. Harmanpreet, who struggled to find her timing for most of her innings, broke free with a towering maximum over deep mid-wicket off Nahida in the same over.

Despite her being scratchy, Deepti Sharma turned on the screws in the final over by launching Marufa for a four and a six off consecutive deliveries to score a quickfire 13 off six balls. But Deepti was caught at mid-off on the fifth delivery, while Bharti Fulmali was run out on the final ball of the innings as India collected 12 runs from the 20th over to finish one run shy of the 150-mark.

Brief scores:

India 149/6 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 64, Harmanpreet Kaur 24 not out; Sultana Khatun 2-30, Rabeya Khan 1-22) against Bangladesh

--IANS

nr/bsk/