Women's Asia Cup T20 Final: Bangladesh clinch maiden title, beat India by 3 wickets

Kuala Lumpur: Bangladesh women’s cricket team completed a thrilling victory to clinch the Women’s Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament by beating defending champions India by three wickets.

It was a below-par performance from the six-time champions India, who had earlier finished their innings at 112-9.

In Bangladesh’s reply, Poonam Yadav tried her best to restrict them as she finished with a spell of 4-9 from four overs, while captain Harmanpreet could just scalp one wicket.

Lam and Rumana Ahmed in the fourth and fifth deliveries.

However, it all came down to the wire as Jahanara Alam successfully ran two runs between the wickets to complete a thrilling victory to the give the Women in Green a memorable win.

WICKET! Sanjida Islam has thrown away her wicket. Rush of blood and she has hit the ball straight into the hands of Veda Krishnamurthy at long on

9 needed of the final over

BANW 105-5 from 19overs

WICKET! Fatim Khatun is gone and Bangladesh have lost half their side.  Harmanpreet Kaur fires the ball wide outside off as  Kahtun comes down the track and looks to hit across. Wicket keeper Taniya Bhatia makes no mistake in removing the bails.

WICKET! Poonam Yadav gets her fourth wicket. Nigar Sultana is caught by Deepti Sharma for 27 runs. A high full toss from the bowler which could have been called a sno ball , but Sultana stepped out of the crease and smashed the full toss ball to the fielder

BANW 55-3 from 11.4 overs

WICKET! Poonam Yadav gets her third wicket as Fargana Hoque departs for 11 runs.

BANW 35-2 after 7 overs:

Incredible over from Poonam Yadav she picks up two wickets in two balls to bring the team back in the match. Is this the turnaround the team was looking for?

WICKET! Two in two for Poonam Yadav. This is incredible. A tossed up delivery outside off and Sultana goes for drive , but edges it to Mithali Raj at cover. Is this the opening that India needed for comeback

WICKET! Poonam Yadav strikes gets the breakthrough. Ayasha Rahman is gone for 17 as Bangladesh lose their 1st wicket, Tossed up delivery and Rahman goes for slog but gets edge and the ball goes into ghands of Jhulan Goswami at short fine.

BANW 33-0 after 6 overs:

It's the end of powerplay, and unlike India Bangladesh are going strong and on their way to clinch the title.

BANW 24-0 after 5 overs:

India need wickets and Bangladesh openers Ayasha Rahman and Shamima Sultana are in no mood to give away their wicket easily. A divine intervention can help India make comeback. will that happen? 

BANW 12-0 after 2 overs:

Good start by Bangladesh openers as they chase their maiden Asia cup title

1st Innings:

A fine half century from India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (56 runs of 42 balls) helped India reach 112/9 in the final of Women’s Asia Cup T20 played at Kinrara Academy, Oval, Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

After being sent into bat, Smriti Mandhana departed early, wickets kept on tumbling like pack of cards as other batters failed to apply themselves to the crease and gifted away their wickets playing loose shots. Some tight bowling and proactive fielding from Bangladesh bowlers made it difficult for Indian batswomen to score runs freely.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur wagged a lone battle as wickets kept on tumbling at other end. Apart from Kaur Mithali Raj (11 runs),Veda Krishnamurthy (11 runs) and Jhulan Goswami (10 runs) were the other batswomen to  get into double digits.

For Bangladesh Rumana Ahmad and Khadija Tul Kubra were the pick of the bowlers with two wickets apiece.

INDW 112-9 after 20 overs:

Harmanpreet Kaur is dismissed on the final ball of the final over as she scored 56 runs to give bowlers a chance to go at Bangladesh batting line up.

INDW 107-7 after 19 overs:

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has once again led from the front as he completes her half century and also helps India cross the 100 run barrier which looked unlikely  couple of overs back.

INDW 74-7 after 15 overs:

India are under the threat of being bowled out inside 100 their lowest score of the tournament. The batswomen have failed to stay at the crease as wickets are tumbling like pack of cards. Harmanpreet Kaur can only watch from the other en.

WICKET! Shikha Pandey's stay at the craese was short as she is caght behind the stumps for 1 run.

WICKET!  Its looks like Indian team are in hurry to get back to the pavillion. Taniya Bhatia is gone and the team has lost their 6th wicket. Bhatia comes down the track but misses the ball to give wicketkeeper and easy stumping opportunity.

WICKET! Veda Krishnamurthy is gone and India lose half the side. Salma Khatun gets the wicket. Krishnamurthy goes across the stump to sweep the ball, but the delivery skids and hits the leg stump.

INDW 46-4 after 10 overs:

Things have gone from bad to worse for India with three quick wickets. Deepti Sharma, Mithali Raj and now Anuja Patil have all gone back to hut . Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur play  the magical innings yet again.

WICKET! Anuja Patil is gone for obstructing the field and India have lost their 4th wicket as Bangladesh are in firm control of the match. Length ball from the bowler and Harmanpreet chops it towards the keeper. Anuja Patil was looking for a quick single, but had to rush back to the crease. As she turned around, she changed direction as the ball was  thrown towards non strikers end. The umpire seems to have given it not-out A referral for 'obstructing the field' was taken and the third umpire after having several looks overturned the not out decision

WICKET! This is stunning, India batting line up is slowly crumbling under pressure.This time its the veteran batswomen Mithali Raj who is sent back to the pavillion for just 11 runs. Flat delivery from Khadija and Mithali tried to work it on on side. the ball takes leading edge and goes straight to the fielder at mid off. 

WICKET! Jahanara Alam gets the breakthrough for Bangladesh. The pressure has paid off. Deepti Sharma tries to go over mid-wicket but gets a big inside edge as the ball hits her off stump.

INDW 16-1 after 5 overs:

Not a great start for India women as opener Smriti Mandhana departs early without troubling the scoring board. Mithali Raj will once again look to steer the innings.

WICKET! Smriti Mandhan is gone and India receive early blow. The left-handed opener is run out. Mithali's short went past short third man as both the players ran two runs, Smriti went for third run but ended up short of the crease.

Kuala Lumpur: The stage is set as India Women’s team will battle with Bangladesh Womens team for the 2018 Women’s Asia Cup T20 in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. A victory in the final will allow the women in blue to lift the trophy for the seventh time.

India have been consistent throughout the tournament as they defeated their opposition with out much trouble. The only blip in the league stage was against Bangladesh, who went onto register their maiden win over Harmanpreet Kaur side by 7 wickets.

The women in blue sealed a spot in the final by comfortably beating arch-rivals Pakistan by seven wickets in the virtual semi-finals on Saturday.

India have so far won all the six edition, while Bangladesh are making their maiden appearance in the final.

India Women (Playing XI): Mithali Raj, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Anuja Patil, Jhulan Goswami, Taniya Bhatia(w), Ekta Bisht, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav

Bangladesh Women (Playing XI): Shamima Sultana(w), Ayasha Rahman, Fargana Hoque, Sanjida Islam, Fahima Khatun, Jahanara Alam, Nigar Sultana, Rumana Ahmed, Salma Khatun(c), Khadija Tul Kubra, Nahida Akter

Toss: Bangladesh women's team have won the toss and elected to field first

Squads

India Women: Mithali Raj, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Anuja Patil, Taniya Bhatia(w), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Jemimah Rodrigues, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Mona Meshram

Bangladesh Women: Shamima Sultana(w), Ayasha Rahman, Fargana Hoque, Sanjida Islam, Nigar Sultana, Rumana Ahmed, Fahima Khatun, Jahanara Alam, Salma Khatun(c), Khadija Tul Kubra, Nahida Akter, Jannatul Ferdus, Panna Ghosh, Sharmin Sultana, Lily Rani

When is the match?

The match is scheduled to start at 11:30 A.M. IST on Sunday, June10 th.

Where is the match?

The match will take place at Kinrara Academy Oval, Kuala Lumpur

Live telecast and timings:

The matches will be telecast on various Star Sports channels.

Live streaming:

The matches can be viewed live on Hotstar.com or on the Hotstar app.