Bangladesh took full advantage of a complacent India as they recorded a comfortable seven-wicket victory in the women’s Asia Cup at Kuala Lampur on Wednesday. After two easy wins over Thailand and Malaysia, India put up a below-par batting performance, scoring 141/7 in the stipulated 20 overs, which Bangladesh surpassed in 19.4 overs.
India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have all got four points from three games but are leading the standings with a net run-rate of +3.428. Fargana Haque (52* off 46 balls) and Rumana Ahmed (42 no off 34 balls) added 93 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket to guide the Bangladeshi women to one of their bigger victories in international cricket.
Rumana was the Player of the Match for her all-round effort as she picked up 3/21 in 4 overs to engineer a middle-order slump when India batted. It was the batting that let India down with only skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (42 off 37 balls) making a significant contribution. Along with Deepti Sharma (32 off 28 balls), the skipper added 50 runs for the fourth wicket, but it didn’t come at a fair clip. The duo consumed seven overs to score the runs.
Once both were dismissed in quick succession, the last four overs saw India scoring only 22 runs, which enabled Bangladesh to make a match of it. It was leg-spinner Rumana, who was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers, removing Harmanpreet, Deepti and Anuja Patil, who is known to strike a few lusty blows.
Chasing, the winners were in trouble at 49/3 after 8 overs before Fargana and Rumana calmly completed the task. Fargana hit five boundaries and a six while Rumana hit six boundaries in her knock.
Needing 32 off the last four overs, Fargana hit left-arm spinner Rajeswari Gayakwad for 12 in the 17th over with a couple of boundaries. Rumana, in the next over, hit Jhulan Goswami for 10 runs to bring the equation down to 10 in two overs.
Needing four off the last over, the duo coolly ran four singles, including leg-byes, to finish the match in style. India will take on Sri Lanka on Thursday.
Brief Scores:
India 141/7 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 42, Deepti Sharma 32; Rumana Ahmed 3/21) beat Bangaldesh 142/3 in 19.4 overs (Fargana Haque 52*, Rumana Ahmed 42*; Rajeshwari Gayakwad) 7 wickets
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