Bangladesh failed to bowl well and then fell far short of the target set for them by India in Saturday’s Women’s Asia Cup match.

India beat Bangladesh by 59 runs and cemented their place at the top of the table. They now have four wins out of five matches played in the first phase of the event.

India won the toss and opted to bat first. They posted 159 runs losing five wickets. The top three batters of India scored 137 runs including a fifty from Shafali Verma. Smriti Mandhana, the Indian captain in this match, scored 47, and Jemimah Rodrigues hit 35 off 24 balls as well.

Rumana Ahmed was the most successful Bangladeshi bowler taking three wickets conceding 27 runs. But the other bowlers were a complete mess in this match. They could not take wickets, they also failed in their plans to not leak too many runs.

In reply, the top three of Bangladesh’s batting line up all reached double digits, but failed to kick on and get a big score, as Bangladesh kept falling behind the ever-growing asking rate.

Fargana Hoque played 40 balls to score 30 runs while Murshida Khatun faced 25 balls to score 21 runs. Nigar Sultana, the Bangladesh captain, was the only batter to score at a strike rate exceeding 100. She made 36 off 29 deliveries. No of the other Bangladeshi batters could score more than four runs.

While chasing a challenging target of 160, Bangladesh was never in a position to offer some resistance to the Indian side. Bangladesh ended up on 100 for seven in 20 overs.

For India, Deepti Sharma and Shafali bagged two wickets each.

While India are at the top of the table with four wins in five matches, Bangladesh are at four with two wins in four matches. Thailand also have two wins, but Bangladesh are ahead of the for a better run rate.

The seven teams in the competition all play each other once in the first phase, with the top four qualifying for the semifinals.