Before the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup begins on February 11, the ten teams had warm-up matches against each other. There will be two days of warm-up matches. One of the warm-up matches was between Bangladesh and Pakistan, Bangladesh lost by 6 wickets.
Bangladesh had won the toss and opted to bat first. Unfortunately, the batting line-up was not that strong, and the team ended with a total of 101/7 in the set of 20 overs despite Shamima Sultana’s top-scoring with 36.
From the start of their innings, Bangladesh showed a less-than-stellar performance. Opener Salma Khatun (8) ended up dismissed in 13 runs in the fourth over.
It was thanks to Shamima Sultana’s efforts that the team managed to reach their total. She and Sobhana Mostary had stitched an important 38-run partnership for the second wicket before Mostary got dismissed in the 10th over after scoring 18 off 21.
After her partnership with Mostary, Shamima had a brief 20-run partnership with skipper Nigar Sultana (15) before eventually falling in the 14th over after scoring 36 off 41 deliveries and smashing three boundaries.
Other than Shamima and Mostary, none of the other batters managed to score above 20 runs. The third-highest score that the team managed was 11 runs by Nigar Sultana Joty.
When Pakistan went to bat, they were set to chase a target of 102. They managed to reach the target in 16 overs thanks to a partnership between Nida Dar and young gun Ayesha Naseem. The pair finished 24 and 20 respectively though the majority of their victory goes to their bowlers.
Among Pakistan’s bowlers, Dar and Nashra Sundhu claimed two wickets each, while Sadia Iqbal, Aiman Anwer, and Tuba Hasan made one scalp each. Aside from this, Skipper Bismah Maroof helped boost the team’s score with 24 runs from 33 balls.
Bangladesh’s bowlers, meanwhile, only managed to score 4 wickets, with Marufa Akter and Rumana Ahmed taking 2 wickets each.
Aside from the two team’s performances, Sobhana Mostary was seen limping off the field during Bangladesh’s fielding innings, requiring treatment on and off the field. Fortunately, she eventually walked back to the Bangladesh dugout unassisted and is likely to play in the second warm-up fixture.
Following this match, Bangladesh will play against India for its next warm-up game on February 8. Before going against Bangladesh, India played against Australia and lost by 43 runs. The last time Bangladesh and India faced each other was at the Women’s Asia Cup in October 2022. Bangladesh lost by 59 runs in that match.
While the Bangladesh Women’s team has had low points in their recent matches, they had a strong performance at the start of the year. For the first time, the Bangladesh Women’s team beat Australia in any cricket format in the U19 Women’s World Cup opener. If not for their low net run rate in the Super Six, the team could have made it to the semi-finals.
After Bangladesh has their warm-up matches, they will be going against Sri Lanka for their first 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup match on February 13.