Bangladesh on verge of history

The Bangladesh women's cricket team have already achieved something special in the Women's T20 Asia Cup; they defeated the two giants Pakistan and India and followed up by thrashing Malaysia in the final group stage match yesterday to romp into today's final against India at the Kinrara Oval.

To claim the title Bangladesh will need to overcome India once again but can take encouragement from the fact that their last encounter, earlier in the  league stage, ended in a seven-wicket win for Bangladesh. India reached the final for the seventh time straight with a seven-wicket victory against Pakistan in their last group stage match yesterday.

"There was no special celebration despite the fact that they qualified for the final for the first time as everybody is focused on beating India tomorrow. The players are charged up to play their best cricket," Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) women's cricket wing development manager Nazmul Abedin Fahim told The Daily Star yesterday.

"Of course, there will be pressure as we want to become champions and we have to handle this pressure. Since losing the opening match against Sri Lanka, the players have been doing an excellent job, we got good starts in all the previous matches, except against Sri Lanka, and we must continue it. The initial push is very important because we don't have the experience to make comebacks from a collapse. We beat India and it was not a fluke but rather the team played brilliant cricket, so why shouldn't the same be possible tomorrow," he added.

In yesterday' fixture, the star players stepped up to secure a 70-run victory against Malaysia, just as they had during the matches against Pakistan, India and Thailand.

After electing to bat, a 59-run opening stand between Shamima Sultana and Ayasha Rahman laid the foundation while an unbeaten 12-ball 26 from Fahima Khatun helped Bangladesh reach 130 for 4 in 20 overs.

Sultana's 54-ball 43 included five boundaries while Ayasha smote two boundaries and a six during her 27-ball 31.

After that, vice-captain Rumana Ahmed starred with the ball and picked up her second three-for of the tournament, ably supported by Jahanara Alam, Salma Khatun, Nahida Akter and Khadija Tul Kubra, all of whom chipped in with one wicket each.