Skipper Esha Oza and Kavisha Egodage at the forefront of UAE’s title triumph in the ACC Women’s Premier Cup.
The UAE skipper Esha Oza led from the front alongside Kavisha Egodage to claim the ACC Women’s Premier Cup title by defeating Malaysia led by skipper Winifred Duraisingam in the final. Both the finalists UAE and Malaysia have also earned qualification for the Women’s T20 Asia Cup in September later this year.
UAE led by skipper Esha Oza stayed unbeaten throughout the league stages and as a result, finished on top of the points table in Group B with 6 points from 3 games. UAE defeated Thailand led by skipper Naroemol Chaiwai in the first semi-final by four runs to make it to the final. Malaysia led by skipper Winifred Duraisingam defeated Nepal by four wickets in the 2nd semi-final to make it to the final. UAE were all set to face Malaysia in the final.
UAE skipper Esha Oza won the toss and opted to bat first in the final. The openers including skipper Esha Oza and Kavisha Egodage stitched a massive 84-run opening partnership with the duo almost carrying their bat throughout the innings. The openers failed to step on the accelerator in the slog overs as they lost the wicket of their skipper Esha Oza. Aisya Eleesa provided the much-needed breakthrough for Malaysia.
UAE eventually ended up with a total of 105/3 in their quota of overs. Skipper Esha Oza (53 off 51 balls), and Kavisha Egodage (30 off 55 balls) were the top performers with the bat for UAE. Ainna Hamizah Hashim (4-0-15-2), Nur Daniya Syuhada (4-0-8-0), and Aisya Eleesa (2-0-14-1) were the top performers with the ball for Malaysia.
Chasing a target of 106, Malaysia got off to a poor start losing their top order including the wicket of their skipper Winifred Duraisingam inside the first five overs of the run chase. Heena Hotchandani dismissed both the Malaysian openers. Mas Elysa joined Elsa Hunter at the crease and the duo stitched a 17-run partnership for the 4th wicket before Vaisnave Mahesh picked up the wicket of Mas Elysa to provide the 4th breakthrough for UAE.
Malaysia suffered a collapse as they lost their next four wickets for just 13 runs and they found themselves at 41/8 in the 13th over of the innings. Malaysia were eventually restricted to 68/9 in their quota of overs and as a result, fell 37 runs short of the target. Nur Dania Syuhada (16 off 21 balls), Elsa Hunter (15 off 25 balls), and Aisya Eleesa (10 off 19 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Malaysia. Vaishnave Mahesh (4-0-15-2), Heena Hotchandani (4-0-16-2), and Suraksha Kotte (4-0-10-1) were the top performers with the ball for UAE.
Skipper Esha Oza was awarded the Player of the Match for her brilliant match-winning performance (53 off 51 balls) with the bat and (3-0-9-1) with the ball helping UAE clinch the ACC Women’s Premier Cup title. She was also awarded the Player of the Tournament for her aggregate of 249 runs with the bat and two wickets with the ball in the tournament for UAE.
Both the finalists UAE and Malaysia have booked their places, they will join India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan for the Women’s T20 Asia Cup in September later this year.