Dambulla, July 21 (IANS) Captain Harmanpreet Kaur hit a fine 12th T20I fifty, while wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh got her first half-century in the format to set the base for India’s comfortable 78-run over UAE in their second 2024 Women’s Asia Cup match at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

On a fresh pitch with wind blowing across, India were in early trouble after losing three wickets in power-play. But Harmanpreet and Richa added 75 runs off 45 balls for the fifth wicket, as India made 201/5, the first time they posted a score above 200 in women’s T20Is.

It is also the highest ever score posted in the history of Women's Asia Cup in T20 format, surpassing the 181/4 which was also hit by India against Malaysia in 2022. Harmanpreet’s 66 off 47 balls, laced with seven fours and a six, steadied India’s ship.

It was followed by Richa applying perfect finishing touches with a whirlwind 64 not out off 29 balls, laced with 12 fours and a six, as India hit a blistering 37 runs off the last two overs. In reply, chasing 202 was never going to be an easy task for UAE, who ended up at 123/7, as all of India’s five bowlers picked at least a wicket.

UAE got few boundaries in the power-play, but in the absence of strike-rotation, they couldn’t get off to a blistering start. Renuka Singh Thakur took out a struggling Theertha Satish, who picked out mid-on to perfection, while Pooja Vastrakar got one to straighten past Rinitha Rajith’s outside edge and hit top of off-stump.

Deepti Sharma joined the wicket-takers’ list by having Samaira Dharnidharka whip straight to mid-wicket 

but her knock came to an end in the 13th over when debutant Tanuja Kanwer enticed her to come out for a drive, but was beaten on the outside edge and stumped by Richa Ghosh, giving the left-arm spinner her first international wicket on third attempt. From there, the result became a foregone conclusion as Radha Yadav and Deepti took a wicket each before a run-out ended UAE’s innings, as India sealed a big win.

Brief Scores: India 201/5 (Harmanpreet Kaur 66, Richa Ghosh 64 not out; Kavisha Egodage 2-36) beat UAE 123/7 (Kavisha Egodage 40 not out, Esha Oza 38; Deepti Sharma 2-23, Tanuja Kanwer 1-14) by 78 runs.