Opener G Trisha made a doughty fifty before the left-arm troika of Ayushi Shukla, Sonam Yadav and Parunika Sisodia spun web around Bangladesh batters as India scored a 41-run win to emerge champions in the inaugural Women’s T20 U19 Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday.
On a spongy pitch, Trisha’s 52 off 47 balls (5x4, 2x6) guided India to 117 for seven, but Indian spinners cut through the Bangladesh line-up to bundle them out for 76 in 18.3 overs.
The biggest partnership in Indian innings, in fact in the match itself, was between Trisha and her skipper Nikki Prasad — a 41-run alliance for the fourth wicket.
India batters struggled against pacer Farjana Easmin, who took four wickets.
Despite that, India were restricted to a below-par total, and Bangladesh seemed well on track for a win once they reached 44 for two in the seventh over.
However, Ayushi (3/17), Sonam (2/13) and Parunika (2/12) took over from that point as Bangladesh lost remaining eight wickets for a mere 32 runs.
Brief scores:
India: 117/7 in 20 overs (G Trisha 52; Farjana Easmin 4/32) beat Bangladesh: 76 all out in 18.3 overs (Juairiya Ferdous 22; Ayushi Shukla 3/17, Sonam Yadav 2/13, Parunika Sisodia 2/12).
"We felt we were a few runs short, maybe 20 runs short" - Niki Prasad
Captain Niki Prasad lauded her bowlers for doing a sensational job in defending a paltry score and cited the dressing room calmness as one of the biggest factors in their win.
"We felt we were a few runs short, maybe 20 runs short, but scoring 117 on this wicket is good. But we knew that we had a good bowling side and would bowl well. We were trying to stay in the game, have that intent, body language and our bowlers and fielders did a fantastic job. The first thing is that all of us are very calm in the dressing room and so, that brings a lot of confidence. When the batters are batting and things are not going in our side, it doesn’t matter as we are calm and that’s why we got to that score."
(With inputs from PTI)