Bangladesh showed their quality and experience in crunch moments as they overcame the spirited challenge from the UAE bowlers to win the do-or-die Group B clash by 34 runs on Tuesday for a place in the semifinal of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup.
After off-spinner Suraksha Kotte (4-0-11-3) delivered an outstanding performance to put the UAE on top, restricting Bangladesh to 6-55 in the 12th over following the home captain Esha Oza’s decision to field first, Sharmin Akhter rose to the challenge beautifully at Dubai International Stadium.
Akhter’s superb 31-ball 38 ensured Bangladesh reached a competitive total of 103 for seven on a slow wicket.
Having lost the momentum after Akhter’s knock, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the UAE batters to keep their semifinal dream alive.
And Bangladesh just kept delivering blows after blows with the ball. When Rinitha Rajith became the third wicket to fall at 22 in the eighth over, the writing was on the wall.
The 2018 champions showed their class with the ball to restrict the UAE to 69 for nine.
Leg-spinner Rabeya Khan (4-0-14-3), medium-pacer Marufa Akter (4-0-9-2) and left-arm spinner Nahida Akter (4-0-18-2) exploited the conditions beautifully, never allowing the home batters to find any sort of rhythm.
Bangladesh’s reward is a semifinal clash against seven-time champions India on Thursday.
The UAE, on the other hand, would look back on their third Asia Cup appearance with pride, having earned only their second win in tournament history when they beat Indonesia.
Skipper Esha admits that with a bit more experience in batting, the UAE can challenge elite teams a lot more in future.
“I think the way we came out in the first innings, big shout out to the team. Against a big team in a must-win game, very proud of the girls. To bridge the gap between us and them, it’s the batting that lacks within the associate teams, and they showed that,” Esha said.
“They built a partnership after the collapse. It’s something we need to work on. But it’s been an amazing experience.”
While their batting needs improvement, the UAE bowlers earned praise from Nigar Sultana, the Bangladesh captain.
“I think it was a very crucial game for both the teams and UAE bowled really well. They gave us a very good challenge,” Sultana said.
Pakistan will face defending champions Sri Lanka in the second semi-final on Friday, having beaten Hong Kong in their final group-stage game on Monday.
The final is scheduled for September 13 at Dubai International Stadium.
Source: Khaleej Times