Bangladesh women top T20 qualifiers
Bangladesh remained irresistible throughout the tournament to clinch the title of the ICC Women's World T20 Qualifiers after a 25-run win against Ireland in the final at Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd, Utrecht in the Netherlands on Saturday.
This is Bangladesh's triple title victory all in a row, having on the back of a maiden success in the six-nation Asia Cup T20 and a bilateral T20 series win by 2-1 margin against host Ireland in June.
Saturday's victory was Bangladesh's 12th win against two losses, since 3 June, reports UNB.
In the final, Bangladesh defended a total of 122/9 in 20 overs for the victory with player of the match Panna Ghosh's stunning wicket haul of 5/16 to hold Ireland on 97 for all in 18.4 overs.
Gaby Lewis (26 off 30b; 4x4), Eimear Richardson (23 off 19b; 3x4) and Clare Shillington (14 off 15b; 2x4) were double digit scorers for the losing side.
Rumana Ahmed (2/14), Nahida Akter (2/15) and Jahanara Alam (1/12) shared five wickets for the winning side.
Sent in to bat first, Bangladesh's innings spurred with top-scorer Ayasha Rahman's (46 off 42b; 5x4; 2x6) partnership of 52 off 8 overs with Fargana Hoque (17 off 17b) in the 2nd wicket. The partnership was ended on 80/2 in 12 overs, starting from 28/1 in 4 overs.
Ayasha was bowled out by Ciara Metcalfe on 88/3 in 12.3 overs and later no batters of Bangladesh stayed for double digit in the game, except Jahanara Alam's unbeaten 12 off 11 balls.
Bangladesh started their innings cautiously as opening wicket between Shamima Sultana (16 off 16b; 3x4) and Ayasha Rahman contributed a 28 off 4 overs before Shamima was caught by Eimear Richardson off Lucy O'Reilly.
Lucy O'Reilly (4/28), Ciara Metcalfe (2/24) and skipper Laura Delany (1/19) were the wicket takers for Ireland.
Bangladesh remained unstoppable throughout the eight-nation qualifiers tournament as they stormed into final with a 49-run victory against Scotland in the second semi-final confirming their entry into the 10-team Women's World T20 in West Indies between 9 and 24 November.
They routed Papua New Guinea (PNG) by eight wickets, the Netherlands by seven wickets and United Arab Emirates (UAE) by eight wickets in their Pool 'A' battles.
The highest total against Bangladesh was of 84/6 by PNG. Bangladesh kept two teams to below 50 runs, restricting the Netherlands on 42/10 and United Arab Emirates on 39/10.
The Asia Cup title win was a fantastic achievement for a team usually spoken of after India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka when it comes to the Asian stakes.
Not many would have foreseen that result even after Bangladesh beat India in an earlier game at the tournament.
As champions of the qualifiers tournament, Bangladesh got a spot in the Group 'A' to compete in the World T20 in West Indies in November.
They will play the first group game against defending champions and host West Indies in the opener on 9 November before playing England, Sri Lanka and South Africa on 12, 14 and 18 November respectively.
