Toss Thailand opt to bowl vs India
Thailand's stand-in captain Thipatcha Putthawong called it right and asked India to bat in the Women's T20 Asia Cup in Dubai.
Regular captain Naruemol Chaiwai suffered an ankle injury in Thailand's first match against Hong Kong on Friday, and missed the game with experienced batter Natthakan Chantham coming in. Putthawong, who bowls left-arm spin, hoped Thailand keep India to "not more than 120".
India also wanted to bowl but batting first is "not a bad option" said captain Harmanpreet Kaur. They handed a T20I debut to batter Pratika Rawal, who came into the squad after Jemimah Rodrigues was ruled out with a hamstring injury. Harmanpreet said Rawal's experience got her the nod ahead of teenager G Kamalini, who was in the original squad picked in June. Rawal is likely to bat at No. 3.
That aside, India went in with just five specialist bowling options apart from the part-time services of Shafali Verma. This match also marked Deepti Sharma's 150th T20I, making her only the third Indian woman after Harmanpreet and Smriti Mandhana to the milestone.
The pitch in Dubai was the same on which the first two matches of the competition were played. Veda Krishnamurthy said it looked hard and will still be good for batting.
India: 1 Shafali Verma, 2 Smriti Mandhana, 3 Pratika Rawal, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Bharti Fulmali, 6 Richa Ghosh (wk), 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Prema Rawat, 9 N Shree Charani, 10 Kranti Gaud, 11 Nandani Sharma
Thailand:1 Aphisara Suwanchonrathi, 2 Phannita Maya, 3 Nannapat Koncharoenkai (wk), 4 Nattakan Chantham, 5 Chanida Sutthiruang, 6 Naomi Hamilton, 7 Suleeporn Laomi, 8 Nannaphat Chaihan, 9 Sunida Chaturongrattana, 10 Onnicha Kamchomphu, 11 Thipatcha Putthawong (capt)