Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Bangladesh women has qualified for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup

Bangladesh women’s cricket team made a moment to cheer for their supporters after beating Thailand women’s cricket team by 70 runs in the final match of the 2019 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier that took place at the Forfarshire Cricket Club in Dundee, Scotland on Saturday (September 7, 2019). With this victory, the Tigresses bagged their second consecutive trophy in this recently concluded tournament. Their first major title was in the 2018 Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup, which they won after beating India by three wickets in the final.

However, reaching the final round of the tournament, both Bangladesh and Thailand already made sure their participation in the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to kick off in Australia from February 21. For being the tournament champion, Bangladesh was placed in Group A along with Australia, India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka whereas Thailand was put in Group B consisting of England, South Africa, West Indies and Pakistan.

Batting first, Bangladesh made a competitive score of 130-5 in 20 overs. Opener Sanjida Islam played a crucial role in this match. She played an unbeaten innings of 71 from 60 balls and on her way to score maiden T20 half-century, she hit six fours and three sixes. She also made a 68-run partnership with Murshida Khatun in the opening stand. Murshida scored 33 off 34 balls before being bowled out by Suleeporn Laomi. Apart from them, neither of the batsmen could cross the double figure. Nattaya Boochatham alone took two wickets while Sornnarin Tippoch and Suleeporn Laomi took one wicket apiece.

However, coming to chase the target, the Thailand women’s cricket team ended up compiling 60 for 7 in their stipulated overs. Ratanaporn Padunglerd and Wongpaka Liengprasert respectively scored 15 and 11. Bangladeshi bowlers Nahida Akter and Shaila Sharmin took two wickets each while Salma Khatun and Khadija Tul Kubra shared two wickets.

Throughout the tournament, Bangladesh remained unbeaten. They made their way to the final after defeating Ireland by four wickets in the semi-final on Thursday before emerging as Group A topper winning all three matches. In the previous edition of the tournament in 2018 in Netherlands, they also became victorious, but finished as runners-up in the 2015 edition.

Scorecard- https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/19451/scorecard/1197065/bangladesh-women-vs-thailand-women-final-icc-womens-t20-world-cup-qualifier-2019