Marufa, Rabeya bowl Bangladesh to historic win over India
Bangladesh women’s team made history by bringing up their maiden victory over their Indian counterparts in One-Day International (ODI) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday.
The Bangladesh girls defeated India in a low-scoring rain-hit match, winning the match by 40 runs in the Duckworth and Lewis System (DLS).
18-year-old pacer Marufa Akter was the star performer for the hosts, finishing with 4-29 while Rabeya Khan claimed 3-30 as India got bundled out for 113 in 35.5 overs.
The star-studded Indian batting line-up crumbled against the Bangladeshi attack in difficult batting conditions at Mirpur, with Deepti Sharma top-scoring with 20 off 40 balls.
Earlier, skipper Nigar Sultana’s 39 off 64 balls and useful contributions from Fargana Hoque (27 off 45) and Sultana Khatun 16 helped the hosts post 152 all out in 43 overs.
Medium pacer Amanjot Kaur was the pick of the bowlers for India, finishing with 4-31.
Before the match, Bangladesh had faced India five times in the format and lost every time. With this win, Bangladesh also took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
The match was reduced to a 44-over-a-side contest after a lengthy disruption 15.1 overs into the Bangladesh innings.
India were set a revised target of 154 using the DLS method and were favourites to chase down the target if not the Bangladesh bowlers did something special. Young sensation Marufa did exactly that.
Marufa removed the Indian openers Priya Punia (10 off 27 balls) and Smriti Mandhana (11 off 12 balls) in the opening spell while Nahida Akter trapped India captain Harmanpreet Kaur leg-before wicket for just five to reduce the visitors to 37-3 after 10 overs.
Leg-spinner Rabeya Khan then compounded India’s troubles by dismissing Yastika Bhatia and Jemimah Rodrigues for 15 and 10 respectively as the tourists had lost half their side for just 61 runs on the board.
Deepti and Amanjot then formed a patient 30-run partnership for the sixth wicket which was slowly taking the match away from Bangladesh. But in just three deliveries, Bangladesh once again assumed control over the match.
Marufa broke the partnership by inducing an outside edge off Amanjot (15) and then clean bowled Sneh Rana for a golden duck in the last two balls of the 29th over.
In the first ball of the next over, Rabeya removed Deepti for 20 to all but end India’s chances in the match.
Marufa couldn’t complete a hattrick but it didn’t matter as Bangladesh picked up the final two wickets soon enough.
Earlier, Bangladesh innings got off to a poor start after being sent to bat first. Opener Sharmin Akhter faced 17 balls but couldn’t get off the mark before getting run out for a duck in the 18th delivery she faced.
In the following over, her fellow opener Murshida Khatun departed for 13 off 30 balls as Bangladesh were teetering at 14-2 after 8.3 overs.
Nigar and Fargana then started reconsolidating the innings- the duo was batting well before rain stopped proceedings with Bangladesh on 40-2 after 15.1 overs.
Soon after the game resumed, the third wicket partnership between Nigar and Fargana ended for 49 runs when the latter got caught behind off Kaur.
Nigar hung around for a few more overs, but got trapped leg-before wicket by Kaur right after Bangladesh breached the three-figure mark.
Sultana Khatun and Marufa (12 not out off 29 balls) then added 26 runs for the ninth wicket which took the score over 150 and set the stage up for a historic victory for the Bangladesh girls.