Bangladesh women’s team were beaten all ends up against their Pakistani counterparts in their second match in the Women’s Asia Cup, suffering a nine-wicket drubbing at the outer ground of the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
Pakistani bowlers made full use of the overcast condition and the excess turn on offer in the pitch to restrict the hosts to a paltry 70-8 in their 20 overs.
Pacer Diana Baig and off-spinner Nida Dar took two wickets each.
Only three Bangladeshi batters reached double figures with Salma Khatun top-scoring with an unbeaten 24 off 29 balls.
Bangladeshi bowlers, however, couldn’t test the Pakistani batters. Sidra Ameen made 36 not out off 35 balls to guide Pakistan to 72-1 in just 12.2 overs.
Salma took the lone wicket for Bangladesh.
Nigar Sultana’s team came into the match high on confidence after their dominant nine-wicket win over Thailand in the tournament opener. However, their confidence fizzled out soon after the match began.
Bangladesh lost three important pillars of their batting line-up, Shamima Sultana, Fargana Hoque and Rumana Ahmed, for identical scores of one and were stuttering at 3-3 inside five overs.
Diana Baig, Pakistan’s lone pacer, went through Shamima’s defences and trapped Rumana leg-before wicket while left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal removed Fargana.
Bangladesh’s hopes of reviving the innings were crushed when Nida trapped both Lata Mandal (12 off 19 balls) and skipper Nigar (17 off 30 balls) LBW.
Salma’s late fight pushed Bangladesh’s score beyond 70 and saved the team from the ignominy of getting bowled out in a 20-over innings.
Pakistan’s victory never looked in doubt as openers Muneeba Ali and Sidra formed a 49-run stand in 50 deliveries to put them on track.
Salma broke the partnership by dismissing Muneeba for 14 off 19. Sidra was then joined by skipper Bismah Maroof (12 off 20 balls), and the duo took their team home without breaking a sweat.
After the match, Pakistan rose to the top of the points-table of the seven-team tournament with two wins from two outings while defending champions Bangladesh slipped to third position.
Bangladesh will next take on Malaysia on 6 September in Sylhet.