Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com
Bangladesh batters Rabeya Khan and Misty Shaha dug deep as they saw their side off in a nervy run chase beating the USA by five wickets in their final Group A match of the ICC Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup at Willowmoore Park in Benoni yesterday.
With qualification already in the bag, the win took Bangladesh through to the Super 6 phase as group-winners meaning that Disha Biswas and Co will likely avoid India, who are in pole position to top from Group D, in the next round.
Chasing a modest 104, Bangladesh brought up Sumaiya Akter to open the innings with Afia Prottasha but the decision didn’t pay many dividends as she was dismissed for 12-ball 10 skying one up off Aditiba Chudasama and in-form Afia perished in another soft dismissal failing to clear mid-on as Bangladesh were 21-2 inside five overs.
Dilara Akter steadied the ship with a watchful 15-ball 17 and Shorna Akter who was promoted up the order took no time to smash away two fours and a six in her 14-ball 22 but she tried to hit one too many and skied one to long-off off the bowling of Tanmayyi Eyyunni in the ninth over.Dilara did the same in the next over leaving Bangladesh at 64-4.
Skipper Disha Biswas and Rabeya Khan took a grip of things and looked to be taking Bangladesh home but the captain was undone by a ripper off Aditiba Chudasama that saw the ball turn sharply from off-stump and go through the gate sending jitters inside the Bangladesh camp with the score at 86-5.
But Rabeya and Misty knuckled down and nervously safeguarded their team home with a 24-ball 18 and a 13-ball 14 respectively.
Earlier, the USA managed to post 104 after opting to bat first.
Snigdha Paul fought hard for her 37-ball 26 and had support from Disha Dhingra who managed 26 runs off 37 balls.
Disha, who was adjudged the player of the match, scalped two wickets for 13 runs and Marufa picked up one as all bowlers except for Dipa Khatun expertly kept the scoring under six runs an over.
Bangladesh U-19s, who earlier had beaten Australia and Sri Lanka, play their next match on January 21 in Potchefstroom.
