HANGZHOU — The Asian Games women’s Twenty20 (T20) quarter-final tie between Malaysia and India today was abandoned due to heavy rain, leaving the higher-ranked India to advance to the semi-finals.
The last-eight fixture at the Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field here lasted less than 30 minutes before it was temporarily suspended due to rain after world number 27 Malaysia had won the toss and elected to bowl.
World number four India had reached 60/1 in 5.4 overs in the first innings when the match was halted.
When play resumed after nearly a two-hour delay, the match was reduced to 15 overs per side and India extended their lead to 173 runs, for the loss of just two wickets.
Just as Malaysia started the chase, with a first run from Ainna Hamizah Hashim, the heavens opened up again, forcing the officials to abandon the match.
Team manager V. Vijayalingam said India took the semi-final spot courtesy of their higher seeding.
At the same time, the Malaysian girls missed out on gaining valuable exposure playing against the mighty opponents when rain cut short the game.
“Winning against India might be impossible, but we are disappointed because we didn’t get the opportunity to gain some experience playing against a higher-ranked team,” he said.
Meanwhile, national captain D. Winifred Anne said the girls were hoping to play the full game and enjoy the rare opportunity of rubbing shoulders with the best teams.
“If we had played the entire game, we could have shown our batting and bowling (capabilities), but we could only see how our bowling was against a good team like India.
“We were hoping to play even a five-over match to see where we stand against a team like India.
“However, we can take a lot from our fielding, and we have a lot to improve on when we play against these types of teams.
“We will go back and work harder, bounce back stronger and play better next time,” she said.
Malaysia advanced to the last-eight after stunning Hong Kong by 22 runs in a Group B preliminary round match on Tuesday, while India received a bye.
India will face either Bangladesh or Hong Kong in the semi-final on Sunday. — September 21, 2023