Asian Games 2023, Women's Cricket: No Result Against Malaysia Gives India Semifinals Spot, Here's Why

It rained intermittently at the Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field in Hangzhou on Thursday morning, forcing the umpires to call off the India vs Malaysia match

Outlook Sports Desk

Updated on: 21 September 2023 5:14 am

Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh after the Indian innings on Thursday.

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.

Women's Cricket Day 1? at the #AsianGames

The weather's interference led to a halt in today's match between India and Malaysia.

Despite this, team ???? advances to the semi-finals, thanks to their higher ranking ??

Looking forward to the team's semis encounter!#HallaBol… pic.twitter.com/CrmPE5ScEA
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) September 21, 2023

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.????