Bangladesh women’s cricket team creates a history after winning the 2018 Women’s T20 Asia Cup by beating India women in the thrilling final match. Indian women were restricted to 112/9 in 20 overs which were successfully chased down by the Bangladesh women in the last ball of the match.
Bangladesh women decided to field first after winning the toss at Kinrara Academy Oval (Kuala Lumpur). India women had a poor start as their most of batswomen departed cheaply. Apart from their skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, none of their batters reached the 20-run mark. Before getting out in the very last ball of that innings, Kaur played an important and responsible 56-run knock off 42 balls with 7 fours.
Opener Mithali Raj (11 runs), Veda Krishnamurthy (11 runs) and Jhulan Goswami (10 runs) were the only other Indian batters to reach the double-digit score. At the end of the 20 overs, India women managed to score only 112/9.
Among the Bangladesh women, Rumana Ahmed (2/22) and Khadija Tul Kubra (2/23) picked up two wickets while Salma Khatun (1/24) and Jahanara Alam (1/23) claimed one wicket each.
In reply, middle-orders Nigar Sultana (27 runs), Rumana Ahmed (23 runs) played important roles for Bangladesh women’s victory.
In the final over, Bangladesh women needed 9 runs in 6 balls with 5 wickets in hands. Moreover, Rumana Ahmed was on the pitch who hit one crucial boundary on the second delivery of that final over. While they needed 3 runs in 3 balls, they lost two back-to-back wickets in the next two deliveries including Rumana Ahmed and added only one run.
Among the Indian women bowlers, Poonam Yadav was impressive with the figure of 4-0-9-4 while the skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (2/19) claimed two more wickets.
While Bangladesh women needed two runs in the final ball to win that trophy, Jahanara Alam secured that remarkable and unforgettable victory by scoring two runs on the deciding ball. Bangladesh women won the match by 3 wickets after reaching the target by losing seven wickets.
Rumana Ahmed was awarded the Player of the Match for her all-round performances while Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the Player of the Tournament award for scoring most runs (156 runs) in this edition.
Brief Scores: India Women – 112/9 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 56, Veda Krishnamurthy 11, Rumana Ahmed 2/22)
Bangladesh Women – 113/7 in 20 overs (Nigar Sultana 27, Rumana Ahmed 23, Poonam Yadav 4/9)
Result – Bangladesh Women won by 3 wickets
Important Stats Review:
- First time in the ACC Women’s Asia Cup history, when India women failed to win the tournament. It was the seventh edition (third edition in T20 format) in overall Women’s Asia Cup history where India women won six times and Bangladesh women won for the first time.
- The second time India women suffered a defeat in the ACC Women’s Asia Cup history. Their first defeat in this tournament history was also against Bangladesh women in this edition at the league stages where the Bangladesh women won by 7 wickets.
