Nepal women cricket team produced a splendid performance in the Women Asia Cup 2024 by winning the 1st match against UAE and thereby make the records by winning the match with a six-wicket margin on July 19, 2024 at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla. This triumph can explain as the first success of the Nepal woman’s cricket team in the Women’s Asia Cup.
Samjhana Khadka Steals the Show
The opener of Nepal team, Samjhana Khadka, was among the most effective ones for her team. With no other batter scoring more than 10 runs, Khadka finished not out on 72 off 45 balls to steer Nepal to the target on the first ball of the 17th over. She made 11 fours in her knock and was handed the Player of Match for such a tremendous performance in the match. Khadka scored at a strike rate of 160; her 72 runs were more than 60% of the team’s total.
UAE’s Batting Struggles Despite Individual Brilliance
Khushi Sharma however gave the best individual performance for UAE and went onto score 36 off 39 balls which also had a brilliance rate of 92. 31. Kavisha Egodage also performed well and she scored 22 runs in 26 balls at the strike rate of 84. 62. UAE was bowled out at 115/8 which was a good effort for the side but they failed to got the winning moments. Thus, the batting of the team was not mind-blowing, and the overall batting average of the entire team sums up to 14. averages of 38 and a strike rate of 74.19.
Nepal’s Captain Strikes with Three-Wicket Haul
Nepal’s captain Indu Barma won the toss and thereafter, decided to field first. Archi then shone with the ball and took three wickets for only 19 runs and put pressure on UAE. One of the gems of the match to be noted were her bowling performances where she took 3 wickets in four overs, with an economy rate of 4.75 give a strike rate of 10.67. Bowling average of Barma in the particular match was 6.33.
UAE Bowlers Struggle to Make an Impact
The bowling line up of UAE could not challenge Samjhana Khadk’s belligerence with the bat. Even though they bowled well and took four wickets, they could not prevent Nepal from chasing the given target. Esha Rohit Oza bowled well taking 2 wickets for 25 runs and Vaishnave Mahesh and Indhuja Nandakumar bagged one wicket each. Kavisha Egodage too gives a good economy by only giving 12 runs in her 3 overs. Nevertheless, the bowling team of UAE was relatively poor as the bowling average was calculated to be 28.75 while his economy rate being 7.23.
Thus, the women’s cricket team’s first victory against UAE in the Asia cup 2024 can be termed as historic. Coming to the cricket, the stand out performances were Samjhana Khadka’s batting and Indu Barma’s bowling. Yet UAE demonstrated potential with the excellent showing of Khushi Sharma who led the run tally for her team and Kavisha Egodage, who was their best all-rounder to her team though it was not enough. Hoping to carry the form in the tournament, Nepal proved their hardworking ability to turn things into positive directions. The match also depicted the advancement of women’s cricket in the particular area, as the performers of both the sides enthralled the spectators with their skills and performances. In the Asia Cup, fans should expect such warfare between the teams and many other as the cup progresses.