The sixth and the final day of the league stage matches of the ICC T20 Women’s Asia Qualifier 2025 witnessed United Arab Emirates, Thailand and Nepal advance to the Super Three. A rain affected game between Hong Kong, China Women and Bahrain Women made sure Nepal got into the top three with a slightly better NRR advantage over Hong Kong.
Dechen Wangmo leads Bhutan to comfortable win over Kuwait
Talking about the first game between Kuwait Women and Bhutan Women, it was always going to be a crunch game. Kuwait scored 92 at the loss of 3 wickets with Maryam Omar being the top scorer with 32 runs and Zeefa Jilani and Balasubramani Shanti both with 17 runs each. A bit of acceleration could have ensured Kuwait go past the 100-run mark but failed to do so. Looking at the bowling of Bhutan, it was a decent spell by Ritshi Choden, Anju Gurung and Riya Pradhan with a wicket each.
93 runs to chase on the board was always going to be a challenge but not when wicket-keeper batter Dechen Wangmo and Sonam Choden were on the crease. Wangmo and Choden took the game away from Kuwait scoring magnificent runs on the boards taking Bhutan home, registering their first victory in the tournament and signing off in style. Dechen Wangmo was the player of the Match for her incredible innings with the bat.
All-round Malaysia thump Qatar to register dominant win
The second match of the day between Qatar and Malaysia was a contrast of the first game with the game being one sided for Malaysia. Qatar being one of the only teams alongside Bahrain to not register a victory in the tournament. Qatar would be gutted by their performance in this tournament and would want to bounce back stronger in the future ahead.
If you look at the scorecard of the Qatar Women, they were bowled out for just 39 runs including 10 extras from Malaysia Women. Malaysia Women did not pick many wickets with the ball but managed to pull off stunning performances on the field. 5 wickets with the ball and 5 run outs made sure Qatar didn’t reach the 40-run mark as well. It was a complete lack of awareness game from the Qatar Women with a flurry of runouts given to the Malaysian Women. No one literally reached the two-figure mark score individually.
With just 40 runs to chase on, it was enough for Ainna Hashim and Wan Julia to do the honors chasing down the total in just 4 overs and registering an emphatic and dominating victory against Qatar Women.
The third game between Hong Kong and Bahrain was a disappointment for the Hong Kong fans as they needed a win to qualify but play was abandoned due to rain.
To sum up the last day of the group stages, Bhutan Women and Malaysia Women registered their first ever victory in the tournament whereas it was disheartening to see Hong Kong not proceeding to the next stage having played some wonderful cricket throughout the tournament.
The tournament will now progress to the Super Three where all three nations will play each other and the winner with most victories and the best Net Run Rate will have the better of the other two teams.
