Fahima treble takes BD to semis

Leg-spinner Fahima Khatun became the first Bangladeshi woman to pick up a hattrick in T20I cricket as the Bangladesh national team cruised to a semifinal spot in the ICC Women's World T20 Qualifier with a comprehensive eight-wicket win at the Kampong Cricket Club in the Netherlands yesterday.

Fahima is only the second Bangladesh women cricketer to take an international hattrick. Rumana Ahmed achieved the feat in ODI cricket against Ireland in 2016.

After being sent to bat, the UAE faced some stiff competition early on from the Bangladesh bowlers, who kept taking wickets at regular intervals, with Fahima grabbing four wickets for just eight runs in her four overs to restrict their opponents to just 39 runs.

Fahima was the one who broke the UAE's middle order as she scalped three wickets of the last three consecutive balls of the 13th over while Nahida Akter and Rumana Ahmed bagged two wickets each.

Esha Rohit was the only UAE batter to reach the double figures with 18.

Bangladesh reached the target for the loss of two wickets and with 13.1 overs to spare. Nigar Sultana remained unbeaten on 21 to help clinch the easy win.