KUALA LUMPUR
In the eighth over of Sri Lanka’s chase of 137, Pakistan appeared on course for their second straight loss of the tournament.
But then came the first blow from offspinner Nida Dar, who removed the openers within three balls across two overs en route to claiming a record T20I haul of 5 for 21 in Pakistan’s 23-run win. The victory, set up by captain Bismah Maroof’s unbeaten 60, followed their shock loss to Bangladesh on Monday.
Once the openers Yasoda Mendis and Nipuni Hansika departed for 25 and 24 respectively, Sri Lanka’s attempts of rebuilding the innings were roundly thwarted by Dar, who bagged the best T20I figures by a Pakistan woman. She conceded only two boundaries in her two spells and ended her rampage with a double-strike in the 18th over.
Sri Lanka slumped to 103 for 8 due to a double-strike in the 16th over too, when Oshadi Ranasinghe was stumped for 10 off Maroof and Rebeca Vandort was run-out for 10. Of the 34 required off the last two overs, Sri Lanka could manage only 10.
Earlier, Maroof offset Sri Lanka’s decision to bowl with a 41-ball 60 – her and Pakistan’s third-highest individual T20I score. Her second-wicket stand of as many runs negated the early loss of opener Muneeba Ali inside the Powerplay which saw only 24 runs. Maroof subsequently anchored a 40-run partnership with Javeria Khan for the third wicket, before taking the score to 136 for 4.
Sri Lanka’s left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari, who was the leading wicket-taker for the side during their 1-2 loss to Pakistan in the T20I series at home, returned 2 for 18.
Scores: Pakistan 136 for 4 (Maroof 60*, Nahida 38, Sugandika 2-18) beat Sri Lanka 113 for 9 (Yasoda 25, Dar 5-21) by 23 runs.
Thailand thrash Malaysia: Thailand romped to their first win of the 2018 Asia Cup by consigning hosts Malaysia to a nine-wicket defeat after restricting them to 36 for 8 in 20 overs.
Offpsinner Wongpaka Liengprasert’s 2 for 10 headlined Thailand’s victory, while opener Naruemol Chaiwai’s top score of 20 helped them seal the chase with 11 overs to spare.
For the third time in a row, Malaysia scored under 50 runs in all, as none of their batsmen got into a double-digit score. Having elected to bat, Malaysia lost a wicket off the very first ball of the match, and their highest partnership amounted to only 12 runs.
Scores: Thailand 37 for 1 (Chaiwai 20*, Sasha 1-8) beat Malaysia 36 for 8 (Liengprasert 2-10) by 9 wickets.
Bangladesh’s first win over India: Rumana Ahmed followed figures of 3 for 21 with an unbeaten 42 off 34 balls to lead Bangladesh to their first win over India in women’s international cricket. Notably, this was India’s first loss in the history of the Asia Cup.
After opting to bat, India lost opener Smriti Mandhana to offspinner Salma Khatun in the second over. Mithali Raj, the other opener, was run-out two overs later, leaving India at 26 for 2. Pooja Vastrakar and captain Harmanpreet Kaur then worked past the early blows and added 44 for the third wicket at a run rate of 7.76. The stand ended when Vastrakar was also run-out for a run-a-ball 20, but Kaur and Deepti Sharma sustained the momentum with a 50-run partnership off 42 balls.
Kaur’s wicket at the end of the 16th over, however, triggered a late collapse: from 120 for 3, India went to 134 for 7.
Scores: Bangladesh women 142 for 3 (Hoque 52*, Rumana 42*) beat India women 141 for 7 (Kaur 42, Rumana 3-21) by seven wickets.
