Bowlers, Haider propel Bangladesh to second win at World Cup

Bangladesh recorded their second ever win at a Women's World Cup, against the same opposition as their first - Pakistan.

In the first of 11 group games in Colombo, the two teams that came through the qualifiers fought a low-scoring battle, despite good batting conditions, as the attacks took centre stage.

The headlines belonged to Bangladesh's bowlers. Sole seamer Marufa Akter set the tone with two wickets in the first over, before their five-pronged spin attack caused all sorts of problems for Pakistan. Bangladesh's three leg spinners, Fahima Khatun, Rabeya Khan and Shorna Akter claimed six wickets between them with Shorna finishing with career-best figures of 3 for 5.

The result means Pakistan have only won one of their last 22 World Cup matches and three out of their 31 overall, and will be disappointed with the way they started this competition. After opting to bat first, only two Pakistan batters - Rameen Shamim and Fatima Sana - got past 20 and they had a highest partnership of 42. In contrast, Bangladesh's debutant opener Rubya Haider batted through the innings and scored a half-century to back up their strong performance in the field.

A visibly more conditioned Marufa found swing immediately and success soon after. The penultimate ball of her first over pitched outside off and shaped back into Omaima Sohail, who stayed on the back foot, left a gap between bat and pad and was bowled. The final ball was even better, hooped in and took Sidra Amin's inside-edge on its way to leg stump. That was Amin's first golden duck in ODIs, and first since 2019. Left-handed Muneeba Ali faced Marufa's hat-trick ball at the start of the next over, and it angled in and straightened on her but she was able to keep it out, only to be beaten next ball.

At the other end, the tournament's youngest player, offspinner Nishita Akter took the other new ball. The first boundary came off her, when Muneeba clipped Nishita fine and then swept her away to deep backward-square. The sweep quickly became Pakistan's go-to shot as they scored 20 of their first 45 runs with it.

Left-arm spinner Nahida Akter was introduced in the eighth over, with Muneeba and Shamim, batting at No.4 for the first time, starting to settle. Nahida removed both. Muneeba chased a wide Nahida delivery and cut it to Nishita at point, ending the third-wicket partnership at 42. In Nahida's next over, she tossed it up to Shamim, who chipped it straight back for the simplest of return catches. Pakistan were 47 for 4 in the 14th over.

Aliya Riaz and Sidra Nawaz launched a mini counterattack when Aliya brought up the team's fifty with a slash through backward point and Nawaz hit back-to-back boundaries off Fahima. But Nawaz's stay at the crease was troubled. She was given out lbw to Fahima on 0 and reviewed. UltraEdge showed she had hit the ball. Three overs later, Nawaz was given not out off Rabeya Khan and Bangladesh reviewed a close call. Replays showed the ball close to both the bat and the pad as it spun back in and third umpire N Janani ruled it had hit the pad first. Nawaz was out for 15.

Sana came in at No.7 and hit the sixth ball she faced for four. She was the only batter to get Marufa to the boundary, when she creamed her through point. But Bangladesh soon applied the squeeze again. Pakistan scored six runs off the next 24 balls and pressure told: Aliya tried to hit Nishita over long-off but didn't get enough on it and Marufa ran in from the rope to take a good catch. Sana didn't last much longer. Two overs later, she played down the wrong line against Fahima, was hit on the front pad and given out. Sana reviewed immediately, thinking both bat and pad were close to the ball, but umpire Janani upheld the on-field decision.

Legspinner Shorna found bounce and turn and had Natalia Pervaiz caught behind in her first over. Pakistan were in danger of being bowled out inside 35 overs. They avoided that, but only just and still lost their ninth wicket in bizarre fashion. Nashra Sandhu left a full ball from Shorna and as her bat came down, she struck her own stumps to become only the second batter to be dismissed hit wicket in Women's World Cups.

No runs were scored off Shorna's first three overs before Diana Baig swept her for four but the fun was short lived. Sadia Iqbal holed out to mid-on halfway through the 39th over to end the innings with 69 balls remaining.

With a modest score to defend, Pakistan had to strike a balance between taking wickets and keeping Bangladesh quiet - Sana and Baig got it right early on. They found movement and teased the edge and Bangladesh had only scored seven runs off the first 22 balls of their reply. And then Baig struck. She beat Fargana Hoque with a ball that seamed in and hit her on the knee roll. Pakistan reviewed and Ultra Edge confirmed there was no bat and the ball would have hit legstump. Baig delivered a five-over spell upfront, through the powerplay, with an analysis of 5-3-2-1.

Pakistan went for double spin after the fielding restrictions were lifted and offspinner Shamim got the next wicket. She had Sharmin Akter out lbw as she was hit on the back pad.

Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana took ten balls to get off the mark but when she did, it was in some style. She advanced down the pitch to turn a Sadia Iqbal delivery into a half-volley and hit it down the ground for four. The tension was broken in the next over when Shamim's first ball beat everyone for four byes and then Sultana swept and reverse swept her way to two more fours.

Haider then got in on the action. She cleared the front leg to hit Shamim wide of mid-on for four, and then took on Sandhu, in an over that cost 14 runs. Haider swung Sandhu over mid-on, carved her through backward point and then charged down the pitch to hit her over mid-off. Sana brought Baig back on and Haider sent her over mid-on too as Bangladesh took control.

Pakistan kept fighting as Baig and Sana tried their best to remove Haider and Sultana. Sana thought she had found Haider's outside edge and had her caught behind and sent it upstairs but the ball hit her thigh pad on the way through. Soon Baig thought she had Sultana lbw and called for a review but ball tracking showed it was sliding down leg. Eventually, the Pakistan pair combined when Sultana tried to short-arm jab Sana through short mid-wicket but bottom-ended to Baig.

Haider reached fifty off her 64th ball when she sent Ramim between point and cover for four. Bangladesh needed 29 runs from the last 24 overs and got there with 113 balls to spare.