Sports Desk: Bangladeshi girls reached the final of the Under-19 Women’s Asia Cup for the first time. They had the opportunity to make history by winning the title. They had always dreamed of it. But that dream was not realized due to batting failure.
This Sunday (December 22, 2024) morning, the Indian girls won the first edition of the tournament by defeating Bangladesh by 41 runs in the final held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The Indian girls won the toss and scored 117 runs in 20 overs for the loss of 7 wickets. In response, the Bangladesh girls kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Then, they were all out for just 76 runs in 18.3 overs due to a batting disaster.
Chasing runs, Bangladesh lost wickets in the second over. Moushumi Eva was called back after the team had 8 runs. Bangladesh lost another wicket on the last ball of the fifth over of the power play. At that time, Sumaiya Akhtar was out. She scored 8 runs for 1 four. Bangladesh’s run was 24.
From there, Fahomida Choa and Juairia Ferdous raised hopes by putting up a 20-run partnership. But after the pair broke at 44 runs, the back-and-forth procession began. Choa was out for 18 runs with 2 fours. After that, no one from Bangladesh could touch the double-digit quota in the back-and-forth procession. Juairia scored a maximum of 22 runs with 3 fours in 30 balls.
Bangladesh lost the last six wickets by a margin of just 12 runs. That is, they were all out for 76 runs after scoring 64 runs for 4 wickets. After Choa returned, Sumaiya Akhter (5) was out at 55 runs, Juairia at 64 runs, Sadia Akhter at 68 runs, Habiba Islam (1) at 69 runs, Jannatul Mawa (3) at 72 runs, Nishita Akhter Nishi (1) at 74 runs, and Anisa Akhter Soba was out for a duck at 76 runs. The red-green representatives could not even put up the desired fight.
India’s Ayushi Shukla took 3 wickets for 17 runs in 3.3 overs. Purunika Sisodia took 2 wickets for 12 runs in 3 overs. And Sonam Yadav took 2 wickets for 13 runs in 4 overs.
Before that, India lost wickets at regular intervals even when they came out to bat. But Gangadi Trishna batted at the front of the field amidst their procession. She scored 52 runs in 47 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. Mithila Vinod scored the second highest with 17 runs. In addition, captain Nikki Prasad scored 12 and Ayushi Shukla scored 10 runs. None of the others could touch the double-digit quota. But with Trishna’s bat, the Indian girls got a fighting chance. Which the Bangladeshi girls could not even come close to.
With the ball, Bangladesh’s Farzana Yasmin took 4 wickets for 31 runs in 4 overs. Nishita Akhter Nishi took 2 wickets for 23 runs in 4 overs. And Habiba Islam took 1 wicket for 20 runs in 4 overs.
India’s Trishna was named Man of the Match in the final after playing an impeccable innings of 52 runs.
