Women's Asia Cup 2022: Sabbhineni Meghana is the star in India's win over Malaysia in a match interrupted by rain

Meghana (69) played the aggressor, but key knocks from Shafali Verma (46) as well as Richa Ghosh (33) helped India post 181-4 after being put in to bat by Malaysia.

India fielded a much-changed playing XI in a match in which they would always be favourites. And in the end, the game went exactly the way most would expect.

However, it was a match that was severely affected by rain and the second innings only lasted 5.2 overs before it was washed out.

Afterwards, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur admitted that they started with spinners Deepti Sharma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad because they knew there was a threat of rain. They wanted to get the five overs just before the skies opened up.

Sure enough, the rain began falling once Meghana Singh bowled just two balls of the sixth over. Afterwards, a wet outfield prevented the match further, and India was duly declared winners.

It also helped India get two wickets, meaning the asking rate went up considerably for the Malaysian side.

But one of the key reasons why the win was so easy, to begin with, was because the batting fired well in the beginning. And this is where Meghana's knock was necessary for the team.

Shefali Verma's form in recent times has been mixed, but, as one of the team's most aggressive batters, she is often expeted to go all out from the first ball itself.

But in this match, Meghana started with some attacking stroke play, which allowed Shefali to take her time and settle down.

It worked a treat, as Meghana raced to her half-century whereas Shefali held firm. By the time Meghana was dismissed at the beginning of the fourteenth over, she had more than done her job.

Shefali would also depart in the penultimate over, whereas before Kiran Navgire went off the next ball for a golden duck.

Radha Yadav would also depart cheaply, but Richa Ghosh (33*) and Dayalan Hemalatha (10*) ensured India got to a competitive total.

In an ideal world, Malaysia would have liked to bat out the majority of the overs just for the experience of playing against a top team like India.

However, their innings got off to the worst start as skipper Winifred Duraisingam was dismissed on the fourth ball of the first over, trapped plumb in front of the stumps by Deepti.

Wan Julia was the next person to depart, having been bowled out by Gayakwad. Mas Elysa and Elsa Hunter then looked to bat cautiously, but the unfortunate reality was that the rain came and – sadly – never went away.

The result now means India is second in the points table, behind only arch-rivals Pakistan on net run rate. They will next take on UAE on Tuesday (October 4).