The opening game of Indian women's cricket team at the 19th Asian Games, being held in Hangzhou, China, turned out to be a damp squib as intermittent rain at the Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field on Thursday morning forced the umpires to call it off, just two balls into the Malaysia innings. India had posted a formidable total of 173/2 in their stipulated 15 overs in the first innings, thanks to Shafali Verma's swashbuckling 39-ball 67. (SCORECARD | Highlights | More Cricket News)
Though the match was abandoned, India still marched on to the semifinals. That was because India are the higher-ranked team of the two sides. India are currently ranked fourth in the ICC women’s T20 international rankings, while Malaysia sit at the 27th spot.
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The next match of the day will be played between Pakistan and Indonesia at 11:30am IST, if the rain relents by then. The victor of that game will take on the winner of the third quarterfinal between Sri Lanka and Thailand, to be played on Friday.
As for India, they will next meet the winner of the fourth quarterfinal, which will be played between Bangladesh and hosts Hong Kong, China on Friday. Bangladesh are expected to win that match and if that happens, they will meet India in the first semifinal on Sunday.
The second semifinal is likely to be played between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and thus we are looking at the mouth-watering prospect of an India-Pakistan final on Monday.
