Renuka, Radha sparkle as India restrict Bangladesh to 80/8 in women's Asia Cup semis

India pacer Renuka Singh inflicted deep wounds upfront from which Bangladesh never recovered, getting restricted to a massively inadequate 80 for eight in the first semifinal of the women’s Asia Cup here on Friday.

Renuka, who bowled four overs on the trot during her 3/10 spell, received ample support from left-arm spinner Radha Yadav (3/14) after Bangladesh elected to bat first.

Renuka struck in the first over itself, dismissing Dilara Akter, whose slog sweep did not have enough power in it to clear Uma Chetry at deep mid-wicket.

In her next over, Renuka got the better of Ishma Tanjim with a delivery that stayed close to her body and a mistimed whip across the line was grabbed by Tanuja Kanwar at short third.

Renuka bagged her third wicket in as many overs with a slightly short of length delivery that Murshida Khatun slapped straight to Shafali Verma at midwicket.

At 25 for three inside the Power Play segment, Bangladesh were falling apart fast and their real hope for a revival was the presence of skipper Nigar Sultana (32, 51b, 2x4), the highest run-getter so far in the tournament.

Sultana hung around resolutely but even she could not offer a meaningful fight to the Indian bowlers, who gave away just seven runs across overs seven and 10 while losing Rumana Ahmed to Radha’s quick arm ball.

There was also hardly any backing for Sultana and the excellent line of Indian spinners on the day meant that the right-hander could rarely play her preferred sweep shot.

The defending champions Indians, on their part, fielded vastly better compared to the previous games and Shafali was particularly impressive.

Her forward-diving catch to oust Rabeya Khan off pacer Pooja Vastrakar was from the top draw.

There was a good little partnership of 36 runs for the seventh wicket between Sultana, who was dismissed for the first time in this tournament, and Shorna Akter (19 not out, 18b, 2x4) but it came way too late to make any real difference to Bangladesh’s situation.