The batting got off to a great start. All that was left was to finish the innings with continuity. Only then would the challenging capital accumulate on the scoreboard. Nigar Sultana Jyoti was walking that way when suddenly everything went haywire. That’s why Bangladesh captain Jyoti regretted the loss of 15-20 runs after the loss. At the press conference after the match, he said, “First of all, I think we had a deficit of 15-20 runs. It would have been great to score at least 140 runs on such a wicket. Because their batting department is very strong.

Bangladesh won the toss and scored 126 runs for 8 wickets by batting first. Sri Lanka left the field with a win by 7 wickets with 10 balls in hand to chase the run. Opener Harsitha Samarawickrama played an unbeaten inning of 69 runs and won the man of the match award. The reason for their first match loss in the T20 World Cup was the failure of the team’s batsmen. After losing 2 wickets in the power play, Bangladesh scored 48 runs and lost Khe from the 16th over. When the two sets of batsmen Jyoti-Lata Mondal at the crease returned in the same over, Bangladesh could not turn around. Bangladesh lost 5 wickets while taking 32 runs in the last 5 overs. Jyoti said, ‘We had a good start, but could not do well after the tenth over. We could not hit boundaries after the sixth over. We were shortchanged there and we paid for it.”Bangladesh scored 72 runs in the first 10 overs. And in the next 10 overs came 54 runs. This is where the girls in red and green fall behind. Sobhana Mostari scored a maximum of 29 runs for Bangladesh. He achieved this run in 5 fours off 32 balls. Jyoti was dismissed for 28 off 34 balls in the 16th over. Lata who scored 11 runs from 13 balls returned in the same over. 24 runs came from the pair of 33 balls.

After breaking this pair, Bangladesh lost the rhythm. Only 25 runs came from the last 5 batsmen. Salma Khatun was unbeaten on 9 runs. And the opener Murshida Khatun was run out for zero runs in the first ball. Marufa Akhter did great with the ball. Three Sri Lankans returned within 25 runs. He took two wickets in two consecutive balls. “I played there (in the U-19 World Cup) with confidence,” said Marufa, who recently got a place in the national team after playing the U-19 World Cup. I played in such a way that I got to play with you (on the national team). It felt perfect to take wickets in two balls in a row.

Bangladesh’s opponent this time is more difficult. Jyoti’s team will face Australia tomorrow at 11 pm Bangladesh time.