Bangladesh Women's national cricket team got back to winning ways in their Asia Cup campaign as they brushed aside Malaysia by 88 runs at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium Academy Ground 1 on Thursday.
On a fresh pitch, Bangladesh posted 129-5 after opting to bat first.
Opener Shamima Sultana was trapped lbw in the very first ball of the innings by pacer Sasha Azmi but the other opener Murshida Khatun managed to brush off the early jitters as she went on to score her first fifty of the tournament.
Following the dismissal of Fargana Haque for 10, Murshida, who scored 56 off 54 balls, stitched an 87-run partnership with skipper Nigar Sultana, who smashed 53 runs off 34 deliveries hitting six fours and one six in the process.
Murshida was run out and Nigar fell to pacer Winifred Duraisingam as the women in red and green failed to take their momentum to the end, finishing at 129-5.
In reply, Malaysia got off to the shakiest of starts losing three wickets for 13 runs inside the power play.
Bangladesh’s left-arm pacer Fariha Trisna, playing in her first match in the tournament, couldn’t ask for a better start as she completed a hat-trick picking up Winifred, Mas Elysa, and Mahirah Izzati Ismai in the first three balls of the fifth over.
Following Fariha’s hat-trick, Malaysia failed to put on a fight as none of the latter batters could manage to reach double figures.
Spinners Fahima Khatun (2), Rumana Ahmed (2), and Sanjida Akhter Maghla (2) picked up six wickets amongst themselves, while off-spinner Salma Khatun scalped one.
