India A, Pakistan A kick off with wins in ACC Women’s T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023

Pakistan A Women & India A Women (Source: Twitter)

India A and Pakistan A kicked off their campaigns with victories in the inaugural edition of the ACC Women's T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup, which began on June 12. Pakistan women thrashed Nepal A by 9 runs thanks to an outstanding bowling effort, while Indian women humiliated Hong Kong A by 9 wickets after bundling them for 34 runs.

In the first match, Nepal won the toss and elected to field first, and their decision proved correct as the Pakistan batters struggled to find runs. Opener Shawaal Zulfiqar was the the top scorer (28 off 36), while the rest of the batters failed to touch the 20-run mark. Indu Barma was the standout bowler for Nepal, taking three wickets while conceding just 3 runs at an economy of just 2. Kabita Kunwar, Kabita Joshi and Sita Rana Magar took two wickets each to bowl Pakistan out for 87 in 19.2 overs.

In response, Pakistan's bowlers did an incredible display to tilt the match in their favour. All- rounder Kabita Kunwar who shone with the ball was the top-scorer (20 off 32) for Nepal. Except Kunwar and Kabita Joshi (15 of 17), none of the other batters could reach the double digit. Syeda Aroob Shah and Tuba Hassan picked up two wickets each as they bundled out their opponents at 78/6.

Shreyanka Patil tear through Hong Kong batting line-up

Talking about the second match, India A won the toss and elected to field first. Shreyanka Patil, who was the leading wicket-taker for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the WPL 2023, singlehandedly destroyed the Hong Kong batting line-up. The spin all-rounder registered a fifer for giving away just 2 runs in her three overs. Parshavi Chopra and Mannat Kashyap took two wickets each which helped India women to bowl out their opponents for 34.

Chasing a mere total, the Women in Blue lost the wicket of their captain Shweta Sehrawat by 2 runs early on. But U Chetry (16* of 15) and Gongadi Trisha (19* off 13) finished things off without much trouble to register an emphatic 9-wicket win.

Bangladesh A will face Sri Lanka A in the first match on Wednesday and Malaysia will face the United Arab Emirates in the second match. Both the games will be played at the Mission Road Ground in Kowloon, Hong Kong.