Five time Women’s Asia Cup champion India bounced back from a shock defeat against Pakistan to beat hosts Bangladesh by 59 runs and all but set a foot in the semi-finals of the eighth Women’s Asia Cup in Sylhet on Saturday.

After winnings four matches out of five, India have now eight points, with one match still to play in the league phase.

Five teams can still finish with eight points, but India are unlikely to miss out on a spot in the semi-final thanks to their high run rate.

Sri Lanka defeated Malaysia by 72 runs in the other match of the day to stay firmly in the race for a semi-final spot after six points from four matches.

Openers set up the win for India in Sylhet Outer Cricket Stadium as Shafali Verma hit 55 off 44 balls and Smriti Mandhana, also the captain of the side, added 47.

One-down Jemimah Rodrigues smashed an unbeaten 35 off 24 balls after Smriti’s run out ended the 96- run opening stand, guiding India to 159-5 in 20 overs.

Leg-break bowler Rumana Ahmed finished with 3-27 runs.

Bangladesh openers Fargana Hoque (30) and Murshida Khatun (21) put 45 runs in the opening stand but struggled to maintain the asking run rate.

Skipper Nigar Sultana made the highest 36 runs from 29 balls as the hosts ended their stipulated 20 overs with 100-7.

Shafali Verma was named player of the match after claiming 2-10, while Deepti Sharma also claimed 2- 13 and accomplished a vital run out with a direct throw from short mid-on.

Earlier in the day, Malsha Shehani claimed four wickets for just two runs as Sri Lanka bowled out

Malaysia for 33 runs to record a comprehensive win despite posting 105-7 batting first on winning the toss.

Sasha Azmi (2-10) and Ainna Hashim (2-23) bowled impressively to restrict Sri Lanka to a modest score, with number eight Oshadi Ranasinghe scoring the highest, 23 not out, for the latter.

Sri Lanka bowlers kept Malaysia under pressure from the word go as Sugandika Kumari (2-11) and Inoka Ranaweera (2-8) enjoyed some early success before player of the match Shehani completed the rout.

Elsa Hunter was the only batter for Malaysia to reach double figures with 18.

The top seven teams from Asia – India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, and the UAE

– are competing in the eighth edition of the tournament being held in the Twenty20 format.