Bangladesh women’s cricket team players celebrate the fall of a Malaysian wicket during their ACC Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup match at the Kinrara Academy Oval in Kula Lumpur on Saturday. — ACC photo
Bangladesh national women’s team stormed into the final of the ACC Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup for the first time when they beat hosts Malaysia by 70 runs in their last league match in Kula Lumpur on Saturday.
Opting to bat first, opener Shamima Sultana struck 43 off 54 balls while Ayasha Rahman and Fahima Khatun made 31 and 26 runs respectively as Bangladesh reached 130-4 in their stipulated 20 overs.
Malaysia failed to provide any kind of challenge in the run-chase as Bangladeshi bowlers took wickets at regular intervals and restricted the hosts to 60-9.
Bangladesh will face six-time champions India in the final at the Kinrara Academy Oval today.
India finished the league stage on top after clinching a seven-wicket victory over Pakistan in their last league match on the same day and progressed to their seventh successive final in the tournament history.
Openers Shamima and Ayasha provided Bangladesh an excellent start by scoring 59 runs before the latter was dismissed by Sasha Azmi in the 10th over.
Skipper Winifred Duraisingam dismissed Shamima and Fargana Hoque (seven) in the 16th over to halt Bangladesh’s progress but Fahima made a late cameo of unbeaten 26 off 12 balls with three fours to guide them to a modest total.
For Malaysia, Duraisingam made highest 17 runs while Yusrina Yaakop (11) and Mas Elysa (14) were the other two players to reach the double-digit scores.
For Bangladesh, Rumana Ahmed claimed 3-8 while Jahanara Alam, Salma Khatun, Nahida Akter and Khadija Tul Kubra all bagged wicket apiece.
Earlier, Bangladesh started their campaign on a losing note when they suffered a six-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka.
However, they fought back strongly by with winning their remaining four matches against Pakistan, India, Thailand and Malaysia to book their place in the final.
In the other match of the day, Thailand secured a sensational four-wicket win over Sri Lanka in a last ball thriller to end their Asia Cup campaign in style.
Source: New Age.
