A bittersweet win to end

All that hope that was, was washed away at the toss. As UAE skipper Theertha Satish won the toss and opted to bat first, it meant that even a win would not take the Bangladesh Under-19 Women’s National Team to the semis of the inaugural ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup.

In the end, they beat UAE comprehensively, something that the winning margin of five wickets fail to demonstrate properly.

The Bangladesh bowlers did their job well to restrict UAE to only 69-9 in their 20 overs, and then a brilliant cameo from Shorna Akter, who scored 38 runs off 19 balls, ensured that Bangladesh reached home with five wickets and 65 balls in hand.

But it was not enough. Bangladesh ended the tournament on six points from four matches in the super six but finished third behind India and Australia on net run rate.

Their damning defeat came against hosts South Africa when the Bangladesh batting order faltered for the only time in the tournament, scoring only 106-6, with the hosts managed to chase down with much comfort.

Star pacer Marufa Akter struck twice in the first over to get rid of UAE skipper Satish with a brilliant delivery that sent her stumps cartwheeling first, and then with a brilliant yorker trapped Samaira Dharnidharka LBW.

The only meaningful UAE partnership came for the third wicket when Lavanya Keny and Mahika Gaur put together 32 runs for the third wicket.

The rest was easy as the bowlers strangled the remaining UAE batting order with no batter other than Keny and Gaur managing to reach double figures.

Chasing a meagre total, Bangladesh were off to a poor start as Misty Shaha (1) was dismissed in the second over, before blistering opener Afia Prottasha (15) returned in the fourth. Another wicket followed as Sumaiya Akter (0) was trapped LBW by Gaur.

But in came Shorna who continued her brilliant performance throughout the tournament as he smashed 20 runs in the sixth over, hitting two sixes and fours each. Before getting out, she scored 38 off 19 balls, ending the tournament on 153 runs with a strike rate of 157.73.