Thailand qualify for Women's Asia Cup 2022 semi-finals
Thailand won three out of six games before progressing to the semifinals.
Cricket PassionEditor
Posted - 2022-10-11T16:26:08+06:00
Updated - 2022-10-11T16:26:08+06:00
Thailand has made it to the semi-finals of the 2022 Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Women's Asia Cup under somewhat fortuitous circumstances.
Thailand have confirmed their place in the semi-finals of the Women's Asian Cup for the first time after Bangladesh's last league game against UAE on Tuesday morning was a blur. Bangladesh - the defending champions and hosts - needed two points to finish fourth and take the last available spot in the semifinals, but they took just one point from the abandoned game and finished in fifth place.
Four teams advanced to the next round of Asian Women's Cup 2022 i.e. H. the semifinals before all matches are completed on the last day of the league phase. Hosts Bangladesh suffered a major setback when their last game against the United Arab Emirates was a shambles and failed to qualify for the semi-finals, securing a place for Thailand.
Thailand's success at the Asia Cup was fueled by openers Nannapat Koncharoenkai and Natthakan Chantham and captain Naruemol Chaiwai, who usually form the top three of their batting side. With the ball, left-arm spinner Thipatcha Putthawong is among the top five wickets cores with eight scalps.
The biggest surprise of the tournament was Thailand's victory over Pakistan. That was the moment that turned the tournament around and was one of the main reasons Thailand qualified for the semi-finals. Bangladesh's pre-semifinal clash with United Arab Emirates was critical for the holders, but the rain played a spoilsport that ended Bangladesh's campaign.
Pakistan is ranked 6th in the ICC Women's T20I rankings, with Thailand ranked 12th. By that metric, it was an unexpected win. But Thailand and Pakistan only met twice more in T20I. In 2018, the Pakistanis beat their Southeast Asian counterparts by eight wickets in the women's Asia Cup. Then came Thailand's superb batting performance at the 2020 T20 World Championships, a win likely spoiled by the rain in Sydney.
It's a head-to-head record that prompts the question of whether these two teams are more equal than previously thought. Three games is too small a sample size to make a consistent comparison between the two teams, and therein lies a key problem. Thailand - like other Associate Members (AMs) - just didn't have enough opportunities to compete against their FM counterparts.