Women's Asia Cup T20, 2018, Round Up – Day 3

The 2018 edition of the Womens Asia Cup T20 has successfully completed its third day. After getting a day-off, the women were back in action today. All the six teams competed hard to get a win under their belt. The top two teams at the end of the league stage will play each other in the final.

All the six teams have two games left in the tournament to test their fortunes. Malaysia lost the third game in a row in the tournament and are virtually out of the Womens Asia Cup. Pakistan won their second game and are battling hard to get into the playoffs. India, on the other hand, lost the game to Bangladesh.

Pakistan Women vs Sri Lanka Women, 7th Match

In the first game of the day, the Pakistan Women met Sri Lanka Women at the Kinrara Academy Oval. Sri Lanka opted to bowl after winning the toss. Although Pakistan lost its opener Muneeba Ali in the 6th over when the score was just 16, skipper Bismah Maroof and Nahida Khan put up a brilliant act together. Nahida Khan scored 38 off 34 while Maroof remained unbeaten on 60 off 41 balls. Although there weren’t any great contributions apart from these two, Pakistan managed to get to 136 for the loss of 4 wickets at the end of 20 overs.

Chasing 137 wasn’t really a tough ask. However, Sri Lanka Womens’ problems with the middle order were pretty much evident yet again. After getting a good start from the openers Y Mendis and Hansika, no one else could get going. Mendis scored 25 off 29 while Hansika scored 24 off 22. No one else in the middle-order managed to cross 15 runs and made a fuss out of the chase. Sri Lanka scored 113 for the loss of 9 wickets at the end of 20 overs and fell short by 23 runs. Nida Dar picked a 5-wicket haul in the innings.

Thailand Women vs Malaysia Women, 8th Match

Two of the weakest teams in the competition faced off each other in a game today. However, it was obvious for Malaysia, which was the weakest of the two to lose. Malaysia Women opted to bat first after winning the toss. They never managed to cross 50 runs thus far in the tournament and it was no different this time around. None of their batsmen managed to cross 10 runs individually and they only scored 36 in the 20 overs. W Liengprasert picked two wickets.

Malaysia Women took their own sweet time to chase this small target down. Chaiwai scored 20 off 28 balls in the chase. Malaysia got there in 9 overs after losing only one wicket which also gave a boost to their net run rate. Sasha Azmi picked the only wicket of the innings. W Liengprasert was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ for her good bowling.

India Women vs Bangladesh Women, 9th Match

The tournament favourites, India faced Bangladesh today. India Women opted to bat first after winning the toss. Mithali Raj made a comeback to the team but failed to create an impact. She scored 15 before she was run out. Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma tried to stabilise the innings after losing some quick wickets. Kaur scored 42 while Sharma scored 32. With no other significant contributions, India only managed to get to 141 in 20 overs. Rumana Ahmed picked 3 wickets in the innings.

Chasing 142, Bangladesh got off to a flyer. They were 67/3 at the end of 10 overs. Opener Shamima Sultana scored 33 off 23 to give them the ideal start to the chase. Fargana Hoque and Rumana Ahmed built a wonderful partnership to help take Bangladesh to victory. Hoque scored a half-century while Rumana scored 41. Bangladesh won the game by 7 wickets.

Brief  Scores

Pakistan Women won by 23 runs against Sri Lanka Women

Pakistan Women: 136/4 in 20 overs (Maroof 60*, Nahida Khan 38, Sugandika Kumari 2/18)
Sri Lanka Women: 113/9 in 20 overs (Y Mendis 25, Hansika 24, Nida Dar 5/21)

Thailand Women won by 9 wickets against Malaysia Women

Malaysia Women: 36/8 in 20 overs (Sasha Azmi 9*, Mas Elysa 6, W Liengprasert 2/10)
Thailand Women: 37/1 in 9 overs (Chaiwai 20*, Saengsakaorat 8*, Sasha Azmi 1/8)

Bangladesh Women won by 9 wickets against India Women

India Women: 141/7 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 42, Deepti Sharma 32, Rumana Ahmed 3/21)
Bangladesh Women: 143/3 in 19.4 overs (Hoque 52*, Rumana Ahmed 42*, Poonam Yadav 1/21)