ESHA OZA’S BRUTAL CENTURY TAKES UAE TO A CRUSHING VICTORY OVER QATAR
Overnight rain in Bangkok affected the morning matches at both AIT and TCG but UAE gave a statement of their intent in the afternoon match at TCG when they crushed Qatar by 163 runs even after retiring out all ten batters after an opening partnership of 192 in 16 overs.
After a gloomy morning, skies had cleared by the afternoon as UAE won the toss and chose to bat first in a full 20-over match against Qatar at TCG. Openers Esha Oza and Theertha Sathish scored 41 from the first five overs and they had the power to add.
Indhuja Nandakumar of United Arab Emirates celebrates the wicket of Shahreen Nawab of Qatar during match 6 of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier between United Arab Emirates Women and Qatar Women held at the Terdthai Cricket Ground, Bangkok on the 10th May 2025.
Photo by Anshuman Akash / CREIMAS
The fifty came up in the seventh opener and Oza was hitting the ball powerfully as she hit the first six of the innings. UAE reached 90 for 0 after 10 overs with Oza on 47 and Satish on 40.
Oza became the first player to score an individual 50 in the tournament as she hit her second straight six to reach the landmark in 36 balls. Satish is a wristy left-hander but she reached 50 from 31 balls with eight boundaries.
Oza reached her 100 in 51 balls with 11 fours and 5 sixes which is the first ever made in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier. It was her fourth century in women’s T20I cricket and she had shown again why she is considered one of the leading batters in women’s Associate cricket.
We then had the sight of both openers retiring out with the total on 192 for 0 in 16 overs with Oza on 113 from 55 balls and Satish on 74 from 42. What followed was the sight of pairs of new batters coming on to the field and going off again as they also retired out.
Clouds were building up and the UAE coach wanted to ensure his team were able to bowl five overs in the second innings to claim the two points for victory. UAE’s strategy seemed to have worked as five overs were soom bowled and Qatar were a long way behind on DLS having lost four wickets. Michelle Botha took three of those wickets and finished with figures of 3 for 11 from her 4 overs.
Wickets continued to fall as Qatar were being completely outclassed as they were 27 for nine after 10 overs. The final wicket fell in 11.1 overs as they were dismissed for 29 with Katie Thompson taking 2 for 6 in 3 overs to continue her fine tournament.
UAE claimed victory by 163 runs to win their second match of the tournament and head Group B on 4 points. They had again showed what a strong side they can be at this level and how they would do anything it took to secure victory.
Both contests scheduled for the morning were badly affected by overnight rain. The match between Thailand and Bhutan at AIT was abandoned just after 10 am with no chance of play due to the wet outfield. Thailand are top of Group A on 3 points.
Conditions were better at TCG where Nepal and Bahrain were hoping to play but there were some wet patches near the pitch after the covers were taken off. The skies had cleared and the sun was coming out so the good news was that there would be a five-over match starting at 1127.
Bahrain were put into bat and did brilliantly to score 41 for 1 in their five overs as their captain Deepika Rasangika made an outstanding 34 from 13 balls as she hit 6 fours and a six from the last ball of the innings as 20 runs came from the final over.
Nepal might have felt the pressure of a difficult chase but their openers played with confidence and scored from most balls as well as hitting regular boundaries. Kabita Kunwar was run out for 18 from 11 balls as Bahrain were bright in the field to take the match into the last over with 2 runs to win.
Nepal gained their first win of the tournament as they won by 9 wickets with 4 balls to spare but Bahrain had made them work hard for the victory that takes Nepal to the top of Group C. Bahrain’s Deepika Rasangika had demonstrated the growing depth of talent in the lower ranked Asian nations.