Tigresses kick off Asia Cup defence in style

Bangladesh women are off to a flier in their Asia Cup campaign with a nine-wicket drubbing of Thailand in the opening match of the tournament, report agencies.

The women in red and green skittled Thailand out for 82 before chasing down the target with 50 balls to spare at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet on Saturday.

Asked to field first, Nahida Akter (2-11), Sanjida Akter (2-18) and Sohely Akhter (2-18) left the Thailand batting order in tatters with two wickets each before Rumana Ahmed grabbed 3 for 9 to cut the innings short.

In reply, Bangladesh openers bludgeoned 12 boundaries and two sixes between themselves in a 69-run stand that all but completed the chase.

Shamima Sultana, taken out by Thipatcha Putthawong, fell one run short of what would have been a glittering half-century. But her opening partner Fargana Hoque (30) and skipper Nigar Sultana (10) then coasted to the win without any more damage.

Bangladesh are the defending champions of the Asia Cup, and Nigar Sultana, the Bangladesh captain, said they are eager to keep the title at home.

Bangladesh will take on Pakistan in their next tie on October 03.

In another match, Jemimah Rodrigues played the role of an enforcer to perfection with a career-best 76 in T20s before the bowlers produced a clinical display to power India to a 41-run win against Sri Lanka in their women's Asia Cup opener in Sylhet on Saturday.

Rodrigues put up a boundary-hitting exhibition as she whacked 11 fours and a maximum in her counter-attacking 53-ball innings to help India post 150 for six on a wicket where batters struggled due to low bounce. The Indian bowlers then struck at regular intervals to bowl Sri Lanka out for 109 in 18.2 overs.

The Indians were better than their Sri Lankan counterparts in all three departments.

India were not off to the best of starts after being asked to bat.

Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana (10) was the first to be dismissed, while her fellow opener Shafali Verma's (6) batting woes continued as she became spinner Oshadi Ranasinghe's (3/32) first victim of the day.

But Rodrigues, who is coming off a wrist injury, was in control from the beginning, timing the ball to perfection.

Sri Lankan bowlers then staged a comeback in the death overs with a flurry of wickets.

While Rodrigues continued to score at a good pace, going past her previous career-best T20I score of 72, her fabulous innings soon came to an end off a Chamari Athapauththu (1/8) slow and low delivery as the Indian was bowled.

Dayalan Hemalatha chipped in with an unbeaten 13 towards the end while Richa Ghosh (9) slammed a six.

Spinners, led by Ranasinghe did the bulk of the work for Sri Lanka.

In reply, Sri Lanka were all out for 109 in 18.2 overs with Dayalan Hemalatha (3/15), Pooja Vastrakar (2/12), Deepti Sharma (2/15) and Radha Yadav (1/15) taking wickets.