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Women's Asia Cup (Source: Twitter)
After 20 matches in the ongoing Women's Asia Cup, the tournament finally has its four semi-finalists which are India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. While the first three teams had fixed their berth there was tough competition between Thailand and Bangladesh for the fourth spot.
However, the uncertainty on the fourth spot was made clear today as hosts Bangladesh suffered a major setback with their last fixture against the United Arab Emirates washed out. As a result, they finished their campaign with five points making way for Thailand to qualify which had six points to their name.
Thailand had been the underdogs of the tournament, solely because of the team’s experience. They caused a major upset after beating Pakistan by six wickets in the 10th match of the tournament.
The major win turned out to be the deciding factor in their qualification to the semi-finals. Bangladesh’s fixture against UAE before the semi-finals was critical for the defending champions, but rain played a spoilsport, which put curtains on Bangladesh’s campaign.
Thailand fell short in the first two games of the tournament against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka but bounced back stronger in the against Pakistan. They went on to secure another win by defeating the United Arab Emirates team by 19 runs. The Naruemol Chaiwai-led Thailand bagged their third consecutive victory when they defeated Malaysia.
They lost their final game against India on Monday, October 10, but still had hopes of qualification to the next round. Thailand's run in the tournament would have ended if Bangladesh had defeated UAE in Tuesday's game which got washed out. The defending champions had a considerably higher Net Run Rate than Thailand.
But things favoured Thailand as they scripted history by qualifying for the semi-finals of the Asia Cup for the first time in the history of the tournament. Thailand will now face India in their semi-final fixture on October 13, Thursday. It would be a challenge for both sides as the winning team moves to the grand finale and the losing team bows out of the tournament.
Here's how Twitter reacted to Thailand's entry into the semifinals of the Asia Cup:
Thailand women qualified over Bangladesh in semis of asia cup 😭😭
— Camlin Oil Pastels 😼 (@CamlinTweets) October 11, 2022
Thailand women qualify for semi final 👍
— 🇮🇳Rishi🇮🇳 (@Rishi_rajput24) October 11, 2022
What a story! 🙌🏻
— Kshitij Kulshreshtha (@kshitijkulsh) October 11, 2022
Thailand women make it into the Semi finals of Women's Asia Cup 🎉 pic.twitter.com/jQyfA9Fjqz
Bangladesh Women's vs UAE Women's game abandoned because of rain!
— Nilesh G (@oye_nilesh) October 11, 2022
Defending Asia Cup champions Bangladesh are out of the race of SF!
Thailand on the other hand have qualified for Asia Cup SF!
Huge achievement unlocked by Thailand Women's Team!#AsiaCup pic.twitter.com/8GLQPymHNX