Kuala Lumpur: Bangladesh took full advantage of a complacent India as they recorded a comfortable seven-wicket victory in the Women’s Asia Cup T20 competition here, Wednesday.
After two facile wins over Thailand and Malaysia, India put up a below-par batting performance, scoring 141 for seven 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 the ‘Women In Blue’ are leading the standings with a better net run-rate of +3.428.
Fargana Haque (52 n o, 46b, 5×4, 1×6) and Rumana Ahmed (42 n o, 34b, 6×4) added 93 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket to guide the Bangladeshi women to one of their bigger victories in international cricket.
It was the batting that let India down with only skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (42, 37b, 6×4) and Deepti Sharma (32, 28b, 5×4), to some extent, making significant contributions. The duo added 50 runs for the fourth wicket after India were reduced to 70/3 inside nine overs, but it didn’t come at a fair clip as the pair consumed seven overs to score the runs.
Both the batswomen departed in quick succession and as a result, the last four overs saw India scoring only 22 runs. Leg-spinner Rumana (3/21), who was adjudged ‘Player of the match’ for her all-round show, was the standout among the Bangladeshi bowlers.
In reply, Bangladesh were in trouble at 49/3 after eight overs before Fargana and Rumana calmly completed the task. India will take on Sri Lanka, Thursday.
Brief Scores: India 141/7 (Harmanpreet Kaur 42, Deepti Sharma 32, Rumana Ahmed 3/21) lost to Bangaldesh 142 in 19.4 overs (Fargana Haque 52 n o, Rumana Ahmed 42 n o) by 7 wickets.