In a tournament often defined by moments of brilliance, Bangladesh’s 20-year-old right-arm pacer Marufa Akter announced herself on the world stage with two bowling masterpieces that set the tone for her team’s seven-wicket victory over Pakistan in their ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 opener.
At the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on 2nd October, under conditions, humid enough to aid swing, yet intimidating enough to test a youngster’s nerves, Marufa not only bagged the Player of the Match award for her spell of 7-0-31-2 but also scripted Bangladesh’s only second-ever World Cup win, both, tellingly, against Pakistan.
With Pakistan led by Fatima Sana winning the toss and opting to bat first, Marufa’s captain Nigar Sultana Joty, handed her the new ball, entrusting her to usher Bangladesh into their second-ever World Cup campaign. What followed was a flash of brilliance rarely witnessed at the venue.
In her very first over, Marufa bowled Omaima Sohail for a golden duck with a delivery that swerved past all defences to clip the leg stump. The very next ball accounted for in-form Sidra Amin, inside-edging another vicious hooping inswinger onto her stumps.
Two wickets, two balls, one of them the opponents’ premier run-getter this year. If Bangladesh’s historic win over Pakistan in the previous edition in 2022, in their first World Cup appearance, had introduced them to the world, this opening burst reintroduced them as a side with a bowler capable of shocking the best.
It was in-swing, but not mere inswing. Marufa’s deliveries bent absurdly late, drifting like slick tyres around a bend. Comparisons are inevitable. Colombo was once the home of Nuwan Kulasekara’s banana swings, but the veteran had 20 ODIs at this ground to perfect his art. Marufa conjured two unplayable balls in her very first ODI on Sri Lankan soil.
She later put her performance into perspective at the press conference with simple but poignant words: “My team members supported me (from the other end), they all told me you’re a lovely bowler and inspired me. Our analyst told me to give my best shot, and I managed to do it. I was getting some good swing and maintained my line and lengths while bowling.”
Her self-description of “I know my balls swing more, more, more” in halting English somehow captured the raw exuberance of her spell. It wasn’t a technical explanation; it was the joy of discovering how devastating her natural weapon could be on the grandest stage of her young career.
Though Marufa’s spell will live in archives, Bangladesh’s victory wasn’t hers alone. Shorna Akter delivered a decisive middle-over spell, claiming three wickets for just five runs with her sharp turn. Nahida Akter’s figures of 2 for 19 applied further suffocation, and together they bundled Pakistan out for 129 with more than 11 overs to spare. And yet, no matter how much the others pressed home the advantage, the defining image of the match will remain Marufa sprinting with youthful delight after disturbing the stumps twice in succession.
At just 20, Marufa already has remarkable numbers to her name: 22 wickets at an average of 39.40 and an economy of 4.38 in 26 innings, including a five-wicket haul in 27 matches so far. Nearly 18% of Bangladesh’s total pace-bowling wickets in the ODI format belong to her in less than four years. That statistic alone underscores both her unique value to Bangladesh and the relative scarcity of a strike pacer in their setup. Her role is not merely as a support act but as the spearhead, and in Colombo, she played that role with devastating clarity.
Major tournaments are remembered for iconic moments: a delivery here, a shot there, a nervy last spell. For the 13th edition of the Women’s ODI World Cup, hosted in India and partly in Sri Lanka from 30th September to 2nd November, it is already clear that Marufa’s inswinging double-strike will figure among the high points. Though her development pathway is still to be written, in dismissing Sidra Amin and Omaima Sohail with hooping new-ball brilliance, she ensured Bangladesh’s campaign opened with raucous jubilation rather than nervous hesitation.
In her words, “Always, I’ve been thinking, how to do well in the first match, and be the match-winner.” It took only one over in Colombo for that thought to turn into reality. And with it, Marufa Akter swung her way firmly and perhaps permanently into World Cup folklore.
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