Bangladesh’s hopes of winning the first Asian gold medal were severely dented when its women’s cricket team crashed to a 10-wicket defeat against Pakistan in the final at Guanggong International Cricket Stadium in Guangzhou on Friday.
The defeat meant Bangladesh has to remain content with silver, which is, however, still one of their best successes in the highest Asian meet. Bangladesh had only won a bronze in boxing and three silvers and a bronze in kabaddi since the country’s debut in the Tehran Games in 1974.
Bangladesh skipper Salma Khatun won the toss and opted to bat first, but the openers failed to give the team the kind of start they would have liked. Ayesha Akhter made nine runs off 23 balls while Lata Mondol was run out for one facing five balls.
Salma made 24 from 31 balls while Rumana Ahmed ably aided her with an 18-ball 16 as Bangladesh were restricted to 92-9 in their 20 overs. Barring Salma and Rumana, no other Bangladeshi players could reach double figure.
Bangladesh’s total never looked enough as Pakistan openers Nida Rashid and Javeria Wadood made a positive start to their run chase, playing a full range of shots and looking to score at every opportunity.
Bangladesh couldn’t force a breakthrough as Nida raced to a half-century off just 41 balls.
The Pakistan pair knocked off the target with more than four overs to spare.
Nida, who also opened Pakistan’s bowling and claimed three wickets for 16 runs, was 51 not out smashing seven fours while Javeria’s unbeaten 39 off 51 balls included three boundaries. The win handed the troubled cricket nation its first gold of the meet.
Japan took the bronze medal with a seven-wicket win over China in the event, included for the first time. India and Sri Lanka, the two regional powerhouses of the game did not participate.
Bangladesh earlier defeated hosts China by nine wickets to reach the final.
Dipu Rai Choudhury, the Bangladesh coach, was disappointed with the loss in the final, but was still pleased with the team’s overall performance in the tournament. ‘If we had won today, we would have been heroes here. But we are still heroes,’ Choudhury was quoted by Cricinfo as saying.
