Women's Asia Cup Rising Stars 2026: Tanuja Kanwar's four-wicket haul powers India A to dominant win against Nepal

Match Overview

India A Women and Nepal Women clashed against each other in the ninth match of the Women's Asia Cup Rising Stars 2026 at the Terdthai Cricket Ground in Bangkok on Tuesday, February 17. Indian captain Radha Yadav won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Nepal began the innings decently, scoring 22 runs off the first four overs for the loss of no wickets. However, it changed soon after as Minnu Mani struck to send back Bindu Rawal. There were no further losses inside the powerplay but it began to unravel not long afterwards. Slow left-arm bowler Tanuja Kanwar ran through the middle order as Nepal found themselves at 56/4 at the halfway mark.

The story did no change much later as the Indian spinners restricted the run flow and kept chipping at the Nepalese batting line-up. In the end, the batting team was all out for a mere 78 runs in 18 overs with Kanwar (4/12) starring with the ball.

India were dealt an early blow with Deeya Yadav perishing to Manisha Upadhayay in the first over itself. Anushka Sharma joined Dinesh Vrinda and the duo accelerated, but their partnership could not prosper much this time around as the former was out caught at 19/2 in the fourth over. Maharashtra batter Tejal Hasabnis and Vrinda combined thereafter and the quick 54-run partnership between the pair almost took India home before the former was dismissed with six runs more needed.

In the end, India completed the victory by seven wickets and 73 balls remaining and qualified for the semi-final.

Top run-scorer of the match

Top wicket-taker of the match

Player of the Match

Tanuja Kanwar

Kanwar was the star with the ball as the 28-year-old's spell broke the back of Nepal. All her scalps were crucial wickets and came at the right times to peg back the opposition whenever they were getting stabilised. Today's performance will give the Himachal Pradesh player much-needed confidence as she had muted outings in the first two matches of the tournament.

Turning Point

The introduction of Tanuja Kanwar led to a flurry of wickets which dented the momentum of the Nepalese batting. The mountain nation was going just fine when Kanwar first struck in the eighth over and her subsequent wickets made it an uphill task for the lower order to post a par score, let alone a competitive one.