Sharmin Akhter Scores Bangladesh’s first Hundred across ODIs and World Cup qualifiers

Bangladesh’s batter Sharmin Akhter Supta sets a record as she scores the maiden ODI century for the Bangladesh women team on Tuesday during the team’s second match of the 2021 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers.

 

Sharmin Akhter scores Hundred against USA in Women's World Cup Qualifiers 2021
Sharmin Akhter scores Hundred against USA in Women’s World Cup Qualifiers 2021

 

Playing against the United States who chose to bowl first, Sharmin opened the batting along with Murshida Khatun and went on to score an unbeaten 130 off 141 balls which included 11 boundaries. at the strike rate of 92.20. Her exceptional performance along with a good contribution by Khatun who got bowled three runs short of her 50, followed by a crucial 33 off 26 by the wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana and then 67 off 62 by Fargana Hoque helped Bangladesh put up their highest ODI total of 322 for 5 wickets, a score which is way more than their previous highest, which was 211 for 9 wickets in 49.5 overs against Pakistan in 2019. The highest individual score before Sharmin’s superb ton was 75 which was shared between Salma Khatun (who remained unbeaten) and Rumana Ahmed, both of which came against India in April 2013 in back-to-back matches.

Bangladesh recorded a massive 270-runs victory after they bowled out the USA Women for just 53 runs, finishing the game 30.3 overs. While three of six batters used by Bangladesh gave a splendid performance, none of the eleven were able to do it for the USA with the highest in the squad being Tara Norris’s 16 off 27 balls. Sindhu Sriharsha was the other one who scored in double digits, 15 off 45 balls. For Bangladesh, Salma Khatun, Fahima Khatun, Rumana Ahmed got two wickets each, Jahanara Alam got one while there were two run-outs and an unfortunate injury of Uzma Iftikhar due to which she couldn’t bat.

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It was a perfect display of team performance by the Bangladesh Women Team and winning big has definitely added a lot to their net run rate which shouldn’t be a factor of concern for them for the remaining matches. Having won both the games they have played beating Pakistan women in a close game in the opening match of the qualifiers, they seem to be a very strong team. Placed in Group B, they are scheduled to play against Thailand two days from now, on November 25, and the host Zimbabwe on November 29.

On the other hand, this was the opening game for the United States, and having suffered a huge defeat, they have a lot to work on, the biggest being not losing their confidence before playing against the host, followed by Thailand and Pakistan, all three with a two-day gap each.

Bangladesh had got a good start with a hope to reach the Super 6 stage and just like they got their first individual ODI centurion, get to their first-ever qualification to the main tournament of the ODI World Cup as well.

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