Bangladesh comfortably see off Scotland in tournament opener

Bangladesh Women won their first T20 World Cup game in over ten years as they kickstarted the ICC T20 World Cup, 2024 on a positive note with a comfortable win over Scotland Women by 16 runs.

After electing to bat, Bangladesh made their intentions clear early on with both openers starting off at a decent clip. Shathi Rani struck a boundary in each of the first two overs, setting the tone early. Just as her partner Murshida Khatun began to catch up with that tempo, she fell trying to loft Kathryn Bryce. But that wicket inside the powerplay did not deter Bangladesh. Rani was joined Shobhana Mostary, who began to match her shot for shot.

While both batters attempted to be aggressive and took risks while playing against the spinners, their intentions were not always fulfilled. Plenty of attempted big hits fell in no man's land and the boundaries came in a trickle once the pace was taken off the ball by Scotland's slower bowlers. They managed only three boundaries over 44 balls but nevertheless, there were ones and twos that kept the scoreboard ticking over and put on a run-a-ball partnership worth 42 which eventually gave Bangladesh a good platform.

The approach eventually got the better of both batters after they had gotten their eye in. Rani miscued a big hit to midwicket to fall for 29 while Mostary was out stumped for 32 a couple of overs later. These wickets sandwiched the run-out of Taj Nehar for a duck which pushed back Bangladesh's bid to target a score in the range of 140. The backend of the innings saw left-arm spinner Saskia Horley hauling three wickets, including two in an over. A couple of timely boundaries by Fahima Khatun pushed Bangladesh to 119 which eventually proved to be too much for Scotland.

Scotland could not get the momentum that Bangladesh managed early on in their innings. They lost Horley to the spin of Khatun early on in just the third over, but the bigger wicket came towards the end of the PowerPlay when skipper Kathryn Bryce was bowled off a ball that kept low. Having hit two boundaries already in her short innings, Scotland's innings hinged on Kathryn's prowess but the early jolt proved too much to recover from. Her sister Sarah Bryce attempted to keep the chase going but found wickets tumbling at the other end to be a big hindrance. Ritu Moni struck twice in the middle overs, while confusion in calling resulted in the run out of Priyanaz Chatterji inbetween. These blows derailed Scotland's attempts in keeping up with the run-rate.

Sarah eventually remained unbeaten on 49 but it wasn't enough to stop a special moment for Bangladesh.

Brief Scores: Bangladesh Women 119/7 (Sobhana Mostary 36; Saskia Horley 3-13) beat Scotland Women 103/7 (Sarah Bryce 49*; Ritu Moni 2-15) by 16 tuns

Source: Cricbuzz