Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana showed great courage and determination, but her hard work was not enough as her team lost a close match against Sri Lanka in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in Navi Mumbai. The defeat officially ends Bangladesh’s qualification chances. Sri Lanka are still in with a slender chance.
Nigar played a brilliant innings of 77 runs from 98 balls with six boundaries. First with Sharmin Akhter (64) and then with Shorna Akter (19), she shared crucial partnerships. Even though Sharmin retired hurt, Nigar took Bangladesh to the doorstep of victory. They needed 12 off 12 balls with six wickets in hand.
Then came the anti-climax. The 49th over saw the fall of a wicket and three runs scored. It came down to nine off the last over bowled by Chamari Athapaththu. In an extraordinary turn of events, Bangladesh lost four wickets off the first four balls. Nigar was the third of those. A run out on the second ball meant there was no hat-trick, but the over fetched four wickets at the cost of just one run. In reply to Sri Lanka’s 202, Bangladesh stopped at 195/9.
Earlier in the match, Nigar was injured while keeping wickets. In the 47th over, a ball bounced higher than expectations and hit her on the throat. She took her gloves off, received treatment on the field from the physiotherapist before walking off. Rubya Haider replaced her as the wicketkeeper. Nigar showed fighting spirit, returned to bat and almost took her team home.
Bangladesh will end their campaign against India on October 26 in Navi Mumbai. It will be a must–win match for India as they are fighting for the final spot in the semi-finals.
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