Women's Asia Cup Final, Ind v Ban: Bangladesh Create History by Lifting Maiden Title

The Bangladesh women’s cricket team scripted history as they defeated Indian Eves by three wickets in the final of the 2018 Asia Cup Twenty20 International – to clinch the tournament for the very first time.

It was the first time any other team than India won the Asia Cup. Well, on the last six occasions, it was all about India. However, the Bangladesh girls showed resilience and what they are capable of. It will surely remain a landmark achievement in their cricketing careers.

The match was pretty close to anyone’s liking and eventually, Bangladesh won the cliff-hanger by taking a double.

For India, it was skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who bowled the final over. Deepti Sharma bowled a brilliant penultimate over to keep India in the game.

However, Harmanpreet couldn’t quite defend nine runs and ended up handing a sensational victory to Bangladesh.

After batting first India posted a mediocre 112 on the board in their allotted 20 overs. It was a pretty low score given the sluggish quality of the pitch.

The only positive for India was a sensational inning from the blade of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. The swashbuckling batswoman was at his imperious best and smashed 56 off just 42 deliveries. Her innings was studded with seven fours.

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No other batswoman could go past the 11-run mark. The Bangladesh bowlers bowled in the right areas and never allowed India to get away.

Khadija Tul Kubra and Rumana Ahmed was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers. They bagged a couple of wickets each to derail India’s progress.

The target of 113 wasn’t going to be enough. However, India would have backed themselves to defend the total given a variety of bowlers they have on their side.

Bangladesh needed to get off to a steady start and the openers provided them with the ideal start.

Shamima Sultana and Ayasha Rahman shared a 35 runs partnership. Both looked in good touch before Poonam Yadav bagged the wickets of both the set batswoman with the score reading only 35.

Nigar Sultana and Rumana Ahmed also played pretty impressive cricket. While Nigar made 27, Rumana scored a fluent 23.

India kept the pressure on Bangladesh despite these impressive performances by the batters.

Nine runs were required in the final over but Harman wasn’t able to defend it. It was quite brilliant from the Bangladesh girls as they lifted the Asia Cup for the very first time.

Brief Scores:

India Women 112/9 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 56, Rumana Ahmed 2/22)

Bangladesh Women 113/7 in 20 overs (Nigar Sultana 27, Poonam Yadav 4/9)

Bangladesh Women won by 3 wickets (in the last ball of the match)

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