Kuala Lumpur, June 10:
Indian women faced abject humiliation after Bangladesh beat the six-time champions by three wickets to win their maiden Asia Cup trophy here today.
The tournament turned out to be the most embarrassing for the ‘Women in Blue’ as they lost to the minnows twice inside a week.
The tournament also raised a big question mark about the utility of two veterans Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami in the shortest format even as the BCCI is forced to carry on with them due to lack of credible replacements.
Needing two off the last delivery of the match, Jahanara Alam hit rival skipper Harmanpreet Kaur towards deep mid-wicket and scampered home for a double to chase down a modest target of 113.
For India, it was Harmanpreet (56 off 42 balls, 2/19) and leg-spinner Poonam Yadav (4/9), who put up a semblance of fight as a below-par batting effort once again became their undoing.
Bangladesh skipper Salma Khatun decided to field and none of the Indian batters save Harmapreet (seven boundaries) looked comfortable against the Bangladesh attack.
Had it not been for Harmanpreet’s innings, India who had slumped to 62 for 5, would have been shot out for less than 100.
The worst part was the number of deliveries wasted by the top three batters — Mithali Raj (11 off 18 balls), Smriti Mandhana (7 off 12) and Deepti Sharma (4 off 11 balls).
India barely managed 21 runs in the Powerplay overs and never had the momentum going their way.
A lot of credit would got to left-arm spinner Nahida Akhtar (0/12 in 4 overs), who bottled up Mithali, whose T20 batting once again came under scanner. She was simply unable to get the boundaries. Deepti’s inability to produce big shots has always been a problem and it again became a factor in defeat.
With Veda Krishnamurthy (11 off 10 balls) also falling cheaply, it became increasingly difficult for Harmanpreet to bat freely.(PTI)
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