Both women's teams make semis in spite of washout by virtue of being seeded higher
The fanfare surrounding the debut of women's debut at the Asian Games was doused by intermittent rain in Hangzhou on Thursday. In the quarterfinal against Malaysia, opener Shafali Verma (67; 39b, 4x4, 5x6) and Jemimah Rodrigues (47*; 29b, 4x6) lit up the cloud covered Zhejiang University of Technology cricket field before the match was abandoned. India totalled 173/2 while Malaysia were one for no loss in the two balls they faced.
India advanced to the semifinals by virtue of being the higher seeded team. The other quarterfinal between Pakistan and Indonesia was washed out without a ball being bowled, with the former going through the last four.
Skipper Smriti Mandhana (27) and Shafali got India off to a rollicking start with their 57-run, opening-wicket association off 32 deliveries. The covers first came on in the sixth over and resulted in a 73-minute break and the match was reduced to a 15-overs-a-side contest.
Shafali, who danced down the track at will, and Jemimah made the most of Malaysian bowlers' inexperience and sloppy fielding to post a big total with the second-wicket pair putting up 86 runs. Richa Ghosh joined the run feast with a quickfire unbeaten 21 off 7 balls, with 19 runs coming off 5 deliveries in the last over bowled by leggie Mas Elysa.
Malaysia openers - Ainna Hashim and skipper Winifred Duraisingam - played two deliveries before another spell of rain forced the match to be called off after a 45-minute wait.
In the semifinals o n Sunday, India will meet the winners of the final quarterfinal between Bangladesh and Hong Kong.
Brief scores: India 173/2 in 15 overs (Shafali 67, Jemimah 47*, Smriti 27) bt Malaysia 1/0 in 0.2 overs
