Leg spinner Nashra Sandhu was the star as Pakistan booked their place in the semi-finals of the Women’s Asia Cup Cricket tourney with a commanding  72-run win over Hong Kong in their final Group A match in Dubai on Monday. Sri Lanka, the defending champions  will meet Pakistan in their Asia Cup semi final on September 11.

Sandhu picked up 6 for  7 against Hong Kong to become the first Pakistani bowler to take six wickets in a women’s T20 international. Her spell pierced through Hong Kong’s batting, helping Pakistan to end their group campaign with a vital win after heavy defeat from India in their previous game as Pakistan were bowled out for just 55 their lowest T-20 total.

Pakistan finished second in Group ‘A’, earning four points from two wins in three matches. They had won their first match against Thailand in the tournament. India   came on top with unbeaten record in Group A and will meet Group B  runners-up    in their semi final tomorrow. Bangladesh women were scheduled to play their last group match against UAE yesterday, looking to gain a semi final berth to play against India.

Sri Lanka completed successful home series against Pakistan last month and once again will meet Pakistan in their semi final. Skipper Chamari Athpaththu is confident  about her team after  three wins in a row to come on top of the group. Athapaththu, the left hand opener came up with  her career best bowling performances of 7 for 5  against Indonesia which is the best bowling performances in this Asia Cup series.

Chamari is on top of the bowlers list having  9 wickets  after group matches  while Indian opener Smriti Mandhana is on top of the batters list having scored 152 runs in three matches. She  has scored 124 against Hong Kong in their second game and set up multiple records with her century.

The left-hander  Mandhana  now has 10,889 runs across all formats. She went past the former India captain Mithali Raj, who has 10,868 runs across all formats. Meanwhile, Mandhana’s century was her 18th across formats, which also saw her move past former Australia captain Meg Lanning for most centuries in women’s international cricket. She also  became the first Indian woman to score two T20I centuries and her consistent performance  always strengthen the India batting line up. Opener Shafali Verma is also in good form having scored 104 runs with a half century.

Meanwhile Indian off spinner Deepthi Sharma’s haul of 8 wickets in three games at this Asia T20 Cup has given her a two spot boost to number 6 in the latest ICC rankings for women’s T-20 bowlers. India’s leg spinner Shree Charani who has seven wickets from three matches so far is on top of the ranking list  and newcomer leg spinner Prema Rawat helped India  to enter the Asia Cup semi final. India will mainly bank on three spinners with high expectations in the semi final.

Nilakshika Silva is the most successful Sri Lankan batter having made half century in the opening game against UAE. Middle order batter Harshitha Samarawickrama  scored a fighting unbeaten knock of 48 against Bangladesh in their last group match. Skipper Athapaththu , Imesha Dulani, Harshitha and Nilakshika have big responsibilities in next game against Pakistan if Sri Lanka to enter the final.