Bangladesh cause a major upset; halts India's winning streak

After comprehensive wins over Thailand and Malaysia, India was confident of another victory. On the other hand, Bangladesh lost their first match but bounced back really well, by claiming their first win on the second day of the tournament against Pakistan.

Batting first, India lost their first wicket in the 2nd over, when Smriti Mandhana got caught leg before wicket on Salma Khatun's delivery. Just one over after Mandhana's Wicket, Nahida's stunning throw resulted in in-form batter Mithali Raj getting run-out. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar tried their best to build the innings, but before they could move any further, Vastrakar got run out on Jahanara Alam's throw.

After 9 overs India were 70/3. The platform was set, but the scorecard demanded an accelerated innings to salvage the win. Accompanying skipper Kaur, Deepti Sharma started hitting the ball all over the field.

But in the 16th over, Rumana Ahmed got the wicket of the dangerous looking Kaur, who scored a blistering 42(37). Soon, Deepti Sharma also joined her in the pavilion, after scoring 32 off 28. Mona Meshram came in with much-needed boundaries at the end, but Bangladesh didn’t allow India to build any other partnership after that. Their perfect death bowling and fall of wickets restricted India within 141 runs.

Harmanpreet was the highest run scorer for India, scoring 47 off 38. Once again, Rumana showing her worth, picked up 3 wickets. Salma Khatun added 1 wicket in her kitty. Bangladesh's extraordinary fielding efforts helped them get 2 crucial run outs.

While chasing, it was not an easy task for Bangladesh, as the target was a challenging total 142. Shamima Sultana and Ayasha Rahman started the innings, but India managed to pick up the first wicket in the 5th over.

Rajeshwari Gayakwad gave India the first breakthrough, and Rahman was dismissed after scoring just 12 runs in 10 balls. Another batter Shamima Sultana, soon joined her after smashing 4 fours in an over. She scored 33 off 23. Poonam Yadav also got the wicket of Nigar Sultana.

After 8 overs, Bangladesh scored 49/3. After that, Indian bowlers failed to take a single wicket, and taking advantage of that, a historic partnership started building up between Fargana Hoque and Rumana Ahmed. Their batting heroics resulted in the Indian team being subjected to their first defeat of Asia Cup. Fargana's responsible innings of 52*(46) and Rumana's quickfire 42*(34), guided Bangladesh to their second win in the tournament. Bangladesh won the match by 7 wickets.

Before this match, India had never lost a single match in the history of Asia Cup. A strong bounce back will be the demand to heal with this loss.

Rumana Ahmed was the ‘Player Of the Match’ award for her 42* off 34 balls, and 3/21.