Siliguri, Jan 2: The India women's team stormed into the final of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship beating Nepal 3-1 at the Kanchenjunga Stadium here on Monday, January 3.

For India, Kamala Devi opened the scoring in the 45th minute. Indumathi doubled the scoring in the 58th minute, while Sasmita Malik completed the home team's scoring in the 83rd minute.

For Nepal, Sabitra Bhandari reduced the margin in the 75th minute from a penalty.

The game was stretched to the flanks where both, Dangmei Grace on the right and Sasmita Malik on the left, were pivotal.

India were dominant from the beginning.

India's coach Sajid Dar described the performance as a "team effort which saw India through".

"It is hard to single out any single player. Right from the goalkeeper to our defenders to the midfielders to the strikers, everyone played their part. It was a team effort," Dar said after the match.

However, even with all that domination and with the goal seemingly inevitable, India were made to wait and Kamala Devi's strike at the stroke of interval was sweetly timed.

IANS