Dubai, Aug. 30 -- Despite an explosive half-century from Shafali Verma, Thailand bowlers, particularly Suleeporn Laomi and Sunida Chaturongrattana, put on a spirited bowling performance, restricting India to 159/9 in the Women's Asia Cup match at Dubai on Sunday.

At one point, India was sailing at 108/2, but collapsed to 136/7 in the next five overs. Shafali (64 in 36 balls, with eight fours and three sixes) was the top-scorer for India.

Thailand won the toss and put India to bat first. Pratika Rawal made her debut for India in T20Is, while Deepti Sharma was playing her 150th T20I for India, becoming third Indian player after Harmanpreet Kaur (202) and Smriti Mandhana (171) to reach the milestone.

Smriti Mandhana started well with thre...