Shorna, Rubya star in Bangladeshs win

“Test match occurring right here. Come on, ladies.”

In an ODI World Cup the place the discourse is about 350-plus totals — not less than 250 on slower surfaces — Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana’s jab at Pakistan summed up a forgettable opening encounter within the Women’s ODI World Cup right here on Thursday.

A shocking batting collapse noticed Pakistan crumble to 129 with their subcontinental cousin, driving on debutant Rubya Haider’s maiden fifty – cruising to a no-fuss seven-wicket win. This is simply Bangladesh’s second win within the event, the primary by the way coming in opposition to the identical opponent in 2022.

Fatima Sana and Co. hoped to capitalise on the current type of key batters to set an imposing goal however Marufa Akter (two for 31) – the only real pacer picked – had different plans.

Her prodigious swing left the top-order shaking on the crease, with opener Omaima Sohail and No. 3 Sidra Amin falling off consecutive balls within the first over. That was sufficient to push Pakistan right into a nook.

Except for the sluggish 42-run partnership for the third wicket between Muneeba Ali and Rameen Shamim, a left-left mixture created to nullify Marufa’s inswinger, the Pakistan batters provided a limp response to the Bangladesh spinners — there was an unflattering dot ball proportion of 69.

If the Pakistan innings was a sluggish burn, Bangladesh’s was a crawl. Each hiccup performed out to a couple hundred individuals on the 40,000-capacity venue, the empty seats making the emotive Bangladesh mascot – the Royal Bengal Tiger – the digicam’s favorite within the stands.

While Fatima’s preoccupied thoughts mirrored in some errant traces, she examined her opponents with two slips and packed off-side fields. Bangladesh closed up right into a shell of its personal with 137 dots.

Diana Baig gave her facet a glimmer of hope when she trapped Fargana Hoque leg-before within the fourth over. Shamim noticed off Sharmin Akter, whereas skipper Fatima took out her counterpart, however Sultana and Rubya’s 62-run third-wicket partnership selected security over flamboyance to arrange a victory with 113 balls to spare.

The scores: Pakistan 129 in 38.3 overs (Shorna Akter 3/5) misplaced to Bangladesh 131/3 in 31.1 overs (Rubya Haider 54 n.o.). Toss: Pakistan; PoM: Marufa.