In the end, it seemed as if there was too much to do for Bangladesh.
It had played only a handful of international games in the last two years. It hadn’t played in Chennai before. It was playing a higher-ranked opponent, which was more familiar with the conditions. And, it had to chase an above-par total of 148.
It lost a must-win match by 49 runs and got eliminated from the ICC Women’s World Twenty20.
Bangladesh didn’t have bad start. In three overs, it scored 22 without losing a wicket. Opener Sanjida Islam hit three fours and looked like she would score more. Two balls later, she tried to clear the deep mid-wicket ropes, pulling West Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor’s short ball. But Deandra Dottin’s brilliant one-handed catch sent her back.
The run-rate that fell following Sanjida’s dismissal struggled to rise after that. Bangladesh’s innings was further dented by two wickets in the 11th over. An over later, Taylor battered it with a double strike. It was difficult for Bangladeshi women to recover from that.
On a sluggish track, the Bangladeshi spinners restricted the West Indian openers to an extent but they hardly threatened them. Hayley Matthews and Stefanie Taylor put on a consolidated 52-run stand in 10 overs, ensuring no loss of wickets.
Bangladesh could’ve got an early breakthrough had its fielding was tighter. There were fumbles, mistimed throws and a dropped catch of Mathews in the first 10 overs.
The Caribbean batswomen, having played two games (including a warm-up match against Australia), probably knew the pitch better. They weren’t bonded to the crease today. And they had the liberty of wickets and bowlers, who gifted them a lot of innocuous short-and-white deliveries.
The West Indies’ batswomen were tied down in its previous game against Pakistan. It lost three wickets in the first 10 overs and was hampered in the next ten. But today, it had Deandra Dottin and Stacy-Ann King to provide their team the impetus it needed. The team scored 50 off the last five overs today, compared to the 55 it scored off the last 10 in the previous game.
Coming in at four, Dottin wasn’t afraid to go down the track. She hit three fours off the 16th over bowled by Rumana Ahmed, two of which she scored hopping from the crease. She was out stumped in the penultimate over, trying to hasten the scoring rate further.
Nahida Akter’s left-arm spin fetched three wickets for Bangladesh.
Brief Scores
West Indies 148 for four in 20 overs (Hayley Matthews 41, Stafanie Taylor 40, Nahida Akter three for 27) bt Bangladesh 99 in 18.3 overs (Nigar Sultan Joty 27, Stafanie Taylor three for 13, Hayley Matthews two for 16, Deandra Dottin two for 17).
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