ASIA CUP T20: India beat Pakistan in Women's Asia Cup final

Bangkok: India defeated Pakistan by 17 runs to retain the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup title at the Asian Institute of Technology Ground here on Sunday The Bangkok win was India's sixth Asia Cup victory in as many meets. India last won the title at Guangzhou, in China, in 2012. Opting to bat first, India scored 121/5 with veteran Mithali Raj scoring a brilliant unbeaten 73 runs. Apart from her, lower-order batswoman Jhulan Goswami (17) was the second top scorer for India. India refused to play a bilateral series against Pakistan between August 1 and October 31 in the sixth round of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Women's Championship calendar recently. The ICC docked six points from India as a punishment. For Pakistan, Anam Amin scalped two wickets while Sana Mir and Sadia Yousuf took one wicket each. In reply, Pakistan started off the run chase on a good note as openers Ayesha Zafar (15) and Javeria Khan (22) scored 24 runs in four overs. Middle order batswoman Bismah Maroof also played a crucial role by scoring 25 runs. But apart from them no other player contributed much as they could manage 104/6 in their allotted 20 overs. For India, Ekta Bisht scalped two wickets while Anuja Patil, Jhulan, Shikha Pandey and Preeti Bose contributed with one wicket each.