Bangladesh’s bowlers kept India within reach, but another failure from the batting unit ended their Women’s Asia Cup campaign with a 40-run semi-final defeat in Dubai.
India posted 149 for six after Bangladesh chose to field, then restricted Nigar Sultana’s side to 109 for seven. The result sent India into another Asia Cup final and exposed the weakness Bangladesh had carried throughout the tournament.
Captain Nigar admitted the problem has existed for a long time.
“There’s been a problem for us for a long time, a visible issue for us,” she said. “Consistency definitely. Whoever got runs in the last two games, they didn’t get runs here. So I think the consistency was not there, that really cost our team.”
Bangladesh had entered the semi-final after winning three of their four group matches, but their batting never produced a convincing total. Their best score before the knockout stage was 129 against Indonesia, while they made only 103 for seven against the United Arab Emirates in their previous match.
The semi-final followed the same pattern.
Dilara Akter made 21 and Juairiya Ferdous 14 before Bangladesh reached 35 for two. Sobhana Mostary then made 18, while Nigar scored 19, but neither could build the substantial partnership the chase required.
Shorna Akter remained unbeaten on 22 from 18 balls, yet Bangladesh finished on 109 for seven. Deepti Sharma took three wickets for India.
Nigar believed the pitch also made stroke-making difficult, but she did not use the surface to excuse the result.
“We really wanted to give our bowlers that they can give us a chance that we can bat on,” she said. “We were like, okay, let’s do that.”
The bowlers largely delivered on that plan.
Sultana Khatun removed Smriti Mandhana for two in the second over and later dismissed Shafali Verma for 64. Rabeya Khan removed Pratika Rawal for 20, while Nahida Akter and Marufa Akter took one wicket each. India reached 149 for six, with Harmanpreet Kaur unbeaten on 24 and Richa Ghosh making 21.
Bangladesh also created chances but failed to take all of them. Shafali was dropped early, allowing her to build the innings that ultimately proved decisive.
“We created our chances,” Nigar said. “Even though Shafali Verma, we lost a catch in long-on in the second over. So if we could have held on that, maybe the scenario might be different.”
Still, Nigar defended the bowling and said Bangladesh had controlled India through the middle overs.
“We lacked a lot of runs in the last three or four overs,” she said. “If we could have restricted them in like 130 or 135 runs, it could be a different scenario for the batting unit.”
