Asia Cup T20, Match no 9 – Bangladesh vs Pakistan.
It was the battle for the 2nd position on the points table, with both the teams having won 2 of their 3 matches. The winner of this match will climb to the 2nd position
(in fact the winner could even take the 1st position replacing India), and the loser may slide down to the 4th place, as later in the day, Sri Lanka Women take on Thailand Women and are expected to win.
Bangladesh won the toss and decided to Bat, but the batters couldn’t justify the decision, especially after they had scored 133 in their previous match.
Pakistan Women are surly a stronger team than Bangladesh Women, but girl, did Pakistan show their power or what!
Bangladesh innings never stood up, and the top orders was blown away by Aiman Anwar’s 2 wickets which gave her a hat-trick opportunity when she picked Nigar Sultana and Shaila Sharmin in the 3rd over of the match, and Sana Mir’s 3 wickets, she too had a hat-trick opportunity when she picked Bangladesh women captain Rumana & Fahima Khatun in the 10th over.
Ex-Captain, Jahanara Alam 12 (1×4, 1×6) was the highest scorer of the innings. Captain Rumana Ahmed 11 (1×4) was the only other Batter to reach double figures. Bangladesh winded up on 44 in the 16th over.
All the Pakistan Women bowlers picked up wickets. Furthermore, 8 extras is not a very bad figure, but considering a total score of 44, it does seem big.
In return, Pakistan scored 45/1, in 10 overs (for the 2nd time in the tournament) to seal a 9 wicket win in just about 30 minutes. Thanks to the in-form Javeria Khan’s 26 off 31 (4×4) & Iram Javed’s 17 off 24 (2×4).
Ayesha Zafar was the only wicket to fall for just 2 runs to Khatuba Tul, who was rested in their previous match. But that was all the success that was to come Bangladesh way.
Sana Mir was awarded the player of the match for her 3 for 5 off 3 overs.