OTD 2018: Bangladesh won the Women’s T20 Asia Cup, beating six-time champions India in a thrilling final in Kuala Lumpur 

The women’s cricket scene has been growing rapidly and we have been getting some great cricketers in the scene. The Indians were no doubt one of the best teams in the Asian subcontinent and were also runners-up for the first time in the Women’s World Cup in 2017. From here, the dominance started for Team India. There is no doubt they were also favourites to win the 2018 Asia Cup T20.

The year was 2018 and the Women in Blue were still the defending champions and had been defending the trophy for 6 years and were a strong-looking team this year as well. The Indians had once again made it to their 7th consecutive Asia Cup final and this time it was a T20 tournament. They were also up against Bangladesh who were the surprising finalists of the season on this very day of 10th June 2018 in Kuala Lumpur.

Indians get their first surprise

There was no doubt that the odds were in favour of the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side who still had some big names in the team such as Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami in the mix. There was no doubt this was a strong-looking Indian side. The Bangladesh team won the toss and elected to bowl on a sluggish surface and took advantage of it straight away. The Indian batters were completely outplayed on the day managing only 112 in their 20 overs. The Bangladesh bowlers including the likes of Salma Khatun and Rumana Ahmed made sure they restricted the Indians to a modest total.

There was absolutely nothing to look back on in the Indian innings apart from the hard-fought half-century from Harmanpreet Kaur. The Indians needed a great bowling performance to defend this total and that is what took place as the spin duo of Poonam Yadav and the skipper once again created havoc. Unfortunately, the mini partnerships featuring Rumana once again this time with the bat made sure he kept her side in a winning position. This was a tense game which came down to the team needing 2 of 1 and the winning runs were finally hit by Janhara Alam as the Bangladesh players surprised the Indians in this encounter and won their first-ever Asia Cup. This was perhaps one of the most shocking and eventful moments of international cricket we witnessed.

Also read: OTD, 1991: Graham Gooch’s unforgettable 154