Sports
Meet the Women’s Asia Cup teams: Thailand, UAE, Nepal and Malaysia
Eight countries will compete for the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 over ten days in Dambulla. Hosts Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are joined by Thailand, Nepal, UAE and Malaysia, all of whom qualified by topping their respective groups in the ACC Women’s Premier Cup 2024.
Thailand
Thailand are one of the emerging teams to watch in women’s cricket. They beat Pakistan in the previous Asia Cup, in 2022, and made the semi-finals for the first time. They now have a new head coach – Nitish Salekar, who took over from Harshal Pathak in January 2023 – and a new captain in 20-year-old Thipatcha Puthawong , whom they are looking at as a long-term leader.
Their batting mainstay Natthakan Chantham picked up an ACL injury during the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in May and had surgery last month. Naruemol Chaiwai, their regular captain, is also injured. As a result, Thailand’s depth could get tested in this Asia Cup.
hey made their maiden T20 World Cup appearance in 2020, but missed the next two editions, and won’t be part of this year’s event in Bangladesh either. Impressive performances in this Asia Cup could give Thailand confidence with many young players in this squad fast-tracked from their Under-19 setup – Putthawong being the prime example.
Thailand are grouped with Bangladesh, Malaysia and Sri Lanka in Group B.
Key player: Chanida Sutthiruang
Over the past couple of years, Sutthiruang has transformed from a fast bowler who could chip in as a lower-order bat into a reliable allrounder. A knee injury limited her bowling in 2021 but a fully-fit Sutthiruang was the fourth highest wicket taker in the T20 World Cup qualifier in May. In Salekar’s words, she has been “batting as well as she ever has” and is one of the batters to watch in Chantham’s absence.
Thailand squad: Thipatcha Putthawong (capt), Suwanan Khiaoto (wk), Nannapat Kocharoenkai (wk), Nattaya Boochatham, Onnicha Kamchomphu, Rosenan Kanoh, Phannita Maya, Chanida Sutthiruang, Suleeporn Laomi, Kanyakorn Bunthansen, Nannapat Chaihan, Sunida Chaturongrattana, Chayanisa Phengpaen, Koranit Suwanchonrathi, Aphisara Suwanchonrathi
Malaysia
Malaysia finished runners-up to UAE in the ACC Women’s Premier Cup. The players prepared for the Asia Cup with the five-team Malaysia Super Women’s League – a domestic T20 tournament featuring players from Malaysia, Thailand, Bhutan, Nepal, Singapore, Hong Kong, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain – in May.
Malaysia are led by Winifred Duraisingam, who has experience of playing with some of the world’s top players in the Fairbreak Invitational tournament in 2022 and 2023. She is their third-most capped T20I player and only one of two Malaysian batters with over 1000 runs in the format. With 47 wickets, she is also their leading wicket-taker, and finished the Super Women’s League joint third on the bowlers’ charts.
Before the Women’s Premier Cup, Malaysia blanked Kuwait 3-0 at home. They are in Group B along with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Key player: Elsa Hunter
Hunter, 19, has taken giant strides after making her international debut at just 13. She is already Malaysia’s fourth-highest scorer in T20Is and her unbeaten 69 off 53 balls helped them beat Nepal in the semi-final of the Women’s Premier Cup. She was the Player of the Match in the final of the Super Women’s League, where she captained Western Wonder Women to the title. She has also earned a contract with the New South Wales Breakers for Australia’s 2024-25 domestic season, having been in their pathway programme for a few years now.
Malaysia squad: Winifred Duraisingam (capt), Aina Najwa (wk), Elsa Hunter, Mas Elysa, Wan Julia (wk), Ainna Hamizah Hashim, Mahirah Izzati Ismail, Nur Arianna Natsya, Aisya Eleesa, Amalin Sorfina, Dhanusri Muhunan, Irdina Beh Nabil, Nur Aishah, Nur Izzatul Syafiqa, Suabika Manivannan
Nepal
Nepal are making their third appearance in the T20 Asia Cup. They were semi-finalists in the Women’s Premier Cup as well as the T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier in September 2023.
Nepal are led by Indu Barma, who captained Northern Queens in the Malaysian Super Women’s League. Their players were also in action in the Laliput Mayor Women’s Championship where allrounder Sita Rana Magar shone for the winners APF Women. Barma’s strike rate of 176.92 was the best for any batter in the competition.
Nepal are in Group A, along with India, Pakistan and UAE.
Key player: Rubina Chhetry
Chhetry is the most capped Nepal woman with 55 appearances and is second in their list of run-getters and wicket-takers in T20Is. She captained Nepal in 46 matches before stepping down in November 2023. In their Women’s Premier Cup match against Maldives, Chhetry scored an unbeaten 118 in Nepal’s record 227 for 4, becoming their first player to score a century in women’s T20Is.
Nepal squad: Indu Barma (capt), Sita Rana Magar, Rajmati Airee, Rubina Chhetry, Dolly Bhatta, Mamta Chaudhary, Kabita Joshi, Kabita Kunwar, Kritika Marasini, Puja Mahato, Bindu Rawal, Roma Thapa, Sabnam Rai, Samnjana Khadka, Kajal Sreshtha (wk)
United Arab Emirates
UAE head into the competition having lost their promising left-arm fast bowler Mahika Gaur to England. They were Asia Cup newbies in 2022 and were one of the busier teams in the lead-up to this tournament, but their entire Quadrangular T20I series – featuring Netherlands, Scotland and USA – at home was washed out due to flooding in Dubai.
They won the Women’s Premier Cup in February but lost to Sri Lanka in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup Qualifier in May. They have won eight of their 11 matches so far this year. In captain Esha Oza, they have the leading run-getter in women’s T20Is in 2024, and teenage legspinner Vaishnave Mahesh has 16 wickets this year. She could be a handful against the top sides – India, Pakistan and Nepal are also in Group A – in Dambulla.
Key player: Threetha Satish
The wicketkeeper-batter is one of only three UAE players with over 1000 runs in women’s T20Is, and just one of two – Oza being the other – to have a strike rate over 100 among current players. She impressed with her glovework and attitude behind the stumps at the inaugural Under-19 T20 World Cup last year and will look to give UAE fast starts at the top of the order.
UAE squad: Esha Oza (capt), Theertha Satish (wk), Emily Thomas, Samaira Dharnidharka, Kavisha Egodage, Lavanya Keny, Khushi Sharma, Indhuja Nandakumar, Rinitha Rajith, Rishitha Rajith, Vaishnave Mahesh, Suraksha Kotte, Heena Hotchandani, Mehak Thakur, Rithika Rajith
[Cricinfo]
B Sai Sudarshan strengthened his case to retain the No.3 spot for the upcoming Test series in Sri Lanka, with his 168 for India A against Sri Lanka A in Galle. Sudharsan converted his overnight 104 not out into his career-best score for India A, helping his side stretch their lead to 175 by the end of the third day’s play. India A closed out the day on 541 for 8 in response to Sri Lanka A’s 366.
Devdutt Padikkal failed to add to his overnight 94 and Ruturaj Gaikwad retired hurt on 13, but India A zoomed ahead thanks to Sai Sudharsan, captain Dhruv Jurel (53), Shaik Rasheed (45) and Saransh Jain (68*).
Jurel’s innings was cut short when he was trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Dilum Sudeera, who also claimed the wicket of Sai Sudharsan. Allrounder Keshara Nuwantha, meanwhile, claimed the wickets of Padikkal and Shaik Rasheed, and Gurnoor Brar late in the day. Overall, he had figures of 4 for 158 in 50 overs.
Sri Lanka A toiled away, using as many as eight bowlers, but only Sudeera and Nuwantha were among the wickets until captain Sahan Arachchige struck late in the day.
India A’s bowling allrounders Saransh and Auqib Nabi (30) combined for an 81-run stand to take the visitors past 500.
Scores:
India A 541 for 8 in 142 overs (B Sai Sudharsan 168, Devdutt Padikkal 94, Druv Jurel 53, Saransh Jain 68*, Shaik Rasheed 45; Keshara Nuwantha 4-158, Dilum Sudeera 3-101) lead Sri Lanka A 366 in 110 overs (Sahan Arachchige 127; Gurnoor Brar 4-77, Saransh Jain 4-92) by 175 runs
(Cricinfo)
Vaobhav Sooriyavanshi at just 15 years and 99 days, has become the second youngest cricketer to play for a Full Member men’s team*, making his debut against England in Manchester. He enters a list of other precocious talents who had burst on to – and sometimes, gone away – from the international stage in their teenage years.
Hasan Raza (Pakistan), 14y 227d
Hasan Raza was a wonderful timer of the ball. He took the field against Zimbabwe before turning 15 in October 1996, and batted once, scoring 27 off 48 deliveries from No. 5.
Doubts, however, later emerged about his age, and the PCB withdrew the claim that Raza was the youngest men’s Test debutant in the history of the game.
Whether he was 14, or 15 as some claimed, he showed tenacity at the international stage but without the results. He played just one more Test before the turn of the century, and then was dropped from the side. A recall in 2002 resulted in his only two Test fifties, against Australia – slow knocks of 54* and 68. However, he never quite found the same success as he did in first-class cricket, where he scored 13,949 runs in a 20-year career.
Jhon Arias scored the only goal as Colombia beat Ghana 1-0 in sweltering conditions in Kansas City on Friday to reach the World Cup round of 16, continuing a quietly impressive campaign that has established them as dangerous outsiders.
Arias struck in the 14th minute, guiding home a cross from substitute Luis Suarez, and Colombia’s disciplined defence did the rest as Nestor Lorenzo’s side extended their unbeaten run and booked a meeting with Switzerland in the next round.
Colombia had largely flown under the radar at the tournament, despite going undefeated against Portugal, Uzbekistan and DR Congo to top Group K.
Their breakthrough on Friday came from two players who had not been expected to combine, as Suarez, thrust into action after Jhon Cordoba was forced off with an apparent groin injury in the eighth minute, delivered a pinpoint cross to the back post where Arias had somehow drifted unmarked.
With time and space to pick his spot, Arias calmly guided the ball into the bottom corner to hand his side a deserved lead.
The stadium felt more like Barranquilla than Kansas City as tens of thousands of Colombia supporters turned the clash with Ghana – a team ranked 60 places behind them – into a de facto home game, giving the South Americans a level of support rarely seen so far from home.
The stands were a writhing, dancing sea of yellow jerseys, twirling scarves and black-and-white sombrero vueltiao hats, that many used to fan their faces in the oppressive 30-degree Celsius (86-degree Fahrenheit) heat.
They bounced in unison, roared their team forward with every attack, and regularly broke into chants of “Vamos Colombia! Esta noche tenemos que ganar!” (Spanish for ‘Let’s go Colombia, tonight we have to win!’).
They need not have worried. Colombia were the better team by some distance.
Luis Diaz had numerous scoring chances. He fired into the side netting in the first half, then celebrated what he thought was the game’s second goal early in the second half when he slotted home Arias’s cross, but it was disallowed for offside.
Lorenzo’s men continued to push for a second goal, and Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi, who was excellent all night, made one terrific save after another in the dying minutes as Colombia’s fans cheered every one of their team’s touches of the ball.
Antoine Semenyo was Ghana’s biggest attacking threat, yet Colombia’s disciplined defence denied him a clear sight of goal.
Colombia became the fourth South American team to reach the last 16, joining surprise package Paraguay, who stunned Germany, along with Brazil and Argentina, both of whom survived scares of their own.
Colombia – whose best finish was reaching the quarterfinals in 2014 – play the Swiss on Tuesday in Vancouver.
[Aljazeera]
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