Nepal now has to beat China to qualify for the Asian Games.
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Ilsa Hunter played another brilliant innings against Nepal in a solo effort to help Malaysia reach the final of the Asian Games Women's Qualifiers. Hunter scored an unbeaten 48 off 24 balls as the home team Malaysia defeated Nepal by 2 wickets on Saturday.
Nepal, who won the toss and elected to bat, scored 126 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs at the Vayumas Oval in Kuala Lumpur. Hunter hit 10 fours and 1 six in an explosive innings, helping Malaysia reach the target with 8 balls to spare.
By reaching the final, Malaysia has been selected for the Asian Games to be held in Aichi/Nagoya, Japan in October. The top three teams are scheduled to qualify for the Asian Games. In the other semi-final, strong contenders Thailand defeated China by 83 runs. The winner of the third-place match between Nepal and China on Sunday will advance to the Asian Games.
This is the second time that Hunter has snatched a match from Nepal with a single attempt. In the semi-final of the 2024 ACC Premier Cup, Malaysia qualified for the Asia Cup by reaching the target of 116 with 1 ball to spare after scoring an unbeaten 69 off 53 balls, including 6 fours. This time too, Hunter created a similar story.
In the fourth ball of the innings, Manisha Upadhyaya cut and bowled Winifred Duraisingham to give Nepal a great start. But Hunter played an attractive innings and stole the game from Nepal. When she was dismissed, Malaysia had already scored 76 runs in 8 overs to lay the foundation for victory. Opener Aina Hashim scored 18 runs off 18 balls, including 1 four, and shared a 70-run partnership with Hunter for the first wicket.
Captain Mas Elissa 6, Mahirah Ismail 14, Dhanushree Muhunan 21, Nur Kalisa 2 were out. For Nepal, Riya Sharma took 3 wickets for 20 runs in 3 overs, Manisha took 14 wickets in 4 overs, and Rubina Chhetri took 2 wickets for 21 runs in 3 overs. Sita Rana Magar took 1 wicket for 20 runs in 3.4 overs.
Earlier, Nepal had made a good score after captain Indu Verma and Kavita Kunwar added 34 runs in the last 2 overs. With their efforts, Nepal added 21 runs in the 19th over and 13 runs in the 20th over. Indu remained unbeaten on 46 runs with 5 fours in 41 balls. Kavita, who was dismissed on the last ball of the innings, scored 33 runs with 4 fours and 1 six in 15 balls.
Samjhana Khadka was out for 2, Pooja Mahato for 15, Soni Pakhrin for 6, and Ruby Podar for 17 runs, while Sita was retired for 5 runs. Duraisingham took 2 wickets for 18 runs in 4 overs for Malaysia. The final between Malaysia and Thailand will be played on Sunday.
