DAMBULLA: Explosive opener Shafali Verma slammed a career-best 48-ball 81 as defending champion India thrashed Nepal by 82 runs to confirm its semifinal spot at the Women’s Asia Cup T20 tournament here on Tuesday.

With India shuffling the batting order, Shafali and Dayalan Hemalatha (47) opened the innings and gave India a flying start after stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana won the toss and opted to bat.

The opening duo smashed its way to 122 in 14 overs to lay the foundation.

Jemimah Rodrigues then hit unbeaten 28 off 15 balls, including three fours in the final over, to take India to a solid 178 for three.

Nepal needed to achieve the target in or under 10 overs to surpass Pakistan on net run rate and qualify for the semifinals but it could only manage 96 for nine, thanks to some superb bowling from the in-form Indian attack.

Deepti Sharma (3/13) was the most successful bowler as she snapped three wickets, while her spin colleague Radha Yadav (2/12) and seamer Arundhati Reddy (2/18), playing in place of a rested Pooja Vastrakar, snapped two each.

Brief scores: India 178/3 in 20 overs (S Verma 81, D Hemalatha 47) bt Nepal 96/9 in 20 overs (D Sharma 3/13)