Women's U19 Asia Cup: India start Super 4 stage with a win over Bangladesh

Indian Women's U19 Cricket Team registered a dominant 8-wicket win against Bangladesh in the first match of the Super Four Stage at the Women's U19 Asia Cup in Malaysia on Thursday.

The Indian team played a brilliant overall game and restricted Bangladesh to just 80 runs in their 20 overs, which they later chased having 8 wickets and 47 balls in hand.

Indian opening batter, Gongadi Trisha won the player of the match award for her attacking half-century, scoring 58 runs on 46 balls at a healthy strike rate of 126.08.

Domination of Indian Spinners

Indian captain Niki Prasad won the toss and asked Bangladesh to bat first against a strong Indian bowling line-up.

However, Bangladesh answered them well and had a fiery start as Mosammat Eva scored three back-to-back boundaries in the second over, showcasing her attacking intent.

But when India introduced their spinners, their attacking intent stopped and a break was put on their scoring rate. Eva tried to break this deadlock with a lofted shot, but Trisha caught it brilliantly, ending her innings.

Aayushi Shukla took the wicket of Eva, which started a collapse as Bangladesh lost their seven wickets in the span of 20 runs, with spinners Aayushi and Sonam Yadav taking three and two wickets respectively.

In the end, Bangladesh ended their innings with 80 runs for 8 wickets, because of a short but attacking inning from Habiba Islam.

The Solid Partnership of Trisha and Niki

Chasing a low target of 81, India was in early trouble as they lost two of their wickets in the first five overs. But then, Trisha tried to take the situation under control with a few boundaries in the powerplay.

Later, Indian captain Niki Prasad released the pressure with two back-to-back boundaries, and then Trisha started firing to register India's first half-century of the tournament.

Niki (22) and Trisha (58) took the Indian team beyond the target with an unbeaten partnership of 64 runs and maintained their position at the top of the points table.

India will now take on Sri Lanka in their final Super Four match and will be looking to qualify for the final of this inaugural edition of the U19 Asia Cup with a victory tomorrow.