Bangladesh 100 for 3 (Murshida 50) beat Thailand 96 for 9 (Boochatham 40, Rabeya 4-114, Moni 2-10, Jesmin 2-28) by seven wickets
Bangladesh ended their 10-match losing streak in T20Is to collect their first two points in the Women’s Asia Cup, in Dambulla. They bounced back from the opening game defeat to Sri Lanka with a convincing seven-wicket victory over Thailand and kept their hopes alive for a semi-final spot.
Legspinner Rabeya Khan‘s four-wicket haul and pace-bowling allrounder Ritu Moni’s two scalps helped Bangladesh restrict Thailand to a below-par 96 for 9 after being asked to bowl on a spin-friendly surface. Nattaya Boochatham top-scored for Thailand with a 41-ball 40, but it wasn’t enough to challenge Bangladesh. In reply, Murshida Khatun, after missing the opener, notched up 50 to take Bangladesh home as they registered their first win of the year in 17.3 overs.
Sri Lanka lead Group B with four points after two matches and are assured of a semi-final spot because of a higher net run rate following a massive win over Malaysia earlier in the day. Bangladesh and Thailand have two points each, and their last group games on Wednesday will decide which team from this group will advance to knockouts.
Rabeya, Moni strangle Thailand
Rabeya started her first over with a double-strike to remove Suwanchonrathi and Koncharoenkai, for a duck. Bangladesh understood early in the game that Thailand found it difficult to score against full-length deliveries and tossed up the balls. The batters were deceived by the turn, drift and bounce that the spinners got on the surface.
At the midway stage, Nigar Sultana threw the ball to right-arm seamer Moni, and she struck immediately. She hit the hard length and got the ball swung back in to remove Phannita Maya to leave Thailand 38 for 3. In her next over, Moni went for a pace-off delivery to bowl Chanida Sutthiruang out for a 10-ball 8.
Rabeya came back after the 13th over and picked up a wicket each in her third and fourth over. The legspinner went fuller again, and Suwanan Khiaoto couldn’t read her wrong’un and was eventually bowled out. Bangladesh did not let Boochatham take off at the death as Rabeya cleaned her up for a 41-ball 40, in the 17th over, with a full-length ball to clean her up.
Debutant left-arm spinner Sabikun Nahar Jesmin, after conceding 23 runs in her first three overs, scalped two off two deliveries in her final over to sink Thailand further.
Suwanchonrathi, from No.11 to No.2
Aphisara Suwanchonrathi, Thailand’s No.11 player, was promoted to open with seasoned opener Boochatham. It was after their wicketkeeper Nannapat Koncharoenkai top-scored for the team with 40 against Malaysia. But the move backfired as Suwanchonrathi struggled to get going. She took 12 deliveries to get off the mark and eventually fell for a 20-ball 6 in the seventh over. Thailand could only post 25 for 0 in the powerplay.
Murshida among the runs
Bangladesh’s last T20I win before Monday came against South Africa in December 2023 when Murshida top-scored with an unbeaten 62. But in the next seven months, the team struggled with the bat, often collapsing around Sultana. In the last three series before this tournament, they used seven players – Murshida, Shamima Sultana, Dilara Akter, Ishma Tanjim, Sobhana Mostary, Moni, Rubya Haider – in the top three and made several changes to the XI, trying to find the winning combination before the home World Cup in October later this year.
Even on Monday, Bangladesh made three changes to the XI that featured in the first game. One of them was Murshida and she made it count. She took ten deliveries to get off the mark but once she got in, Murshida got the scorecard ticking in a small chase. There was a mix-up between her and Dilhara Akter in the fifth over and the latter eventually was run out but after that, Murshida settled down. She hit eight fours in her 55-ball stay and collected her fourth half-century in T20Is. Along with Ishma, she stitched a 60-run stand for the second wicket to blunt Thailand’s attack.
Bangladesh lost two wickets late in the game, but for a change, they didn’t need Sultana to rescue them.
