More than just a defeat

A whole new set of support staff, a new captain and training facilities as good as the men's team did little to help Bangladesh Women's team avoid an embarrassing defeat against Pakistan.

The Tigresses suffered a nine-wicket defeat in their fourth game of the Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup in Bangkok yesterday. But the more embarrassing fact was that they were bowled out for 44 runs in 15.3 overs, Bangladesh's lowest total in the shortest version of the game.

Two players -- Rumana Ahmed (11) and Jahanara Alam (12 not out) – could reach double figures in a match where they were at one staged reduced to four for three. No one had expected the inexperienced Bangladesh women, who started their T20 journey with a stunning four-wicket win against Ireland in Dublin in 2014, to beat Pakistan.

But given their recent performance against Pakistan including two closely-fought games in Karachi, it was expected that they would put up a better showing. The women's team have won two of their four games in the tournament so far. But those two wins against Nepal and hosts Thailand by bigger margins hardly exemplify their improvement.

It was actually their games against India and Pakistan where they were supposed to prove their worth as an up and coming team. But they also failed against India miserably as they were bowled out for 54, which was their lowest score before the Pakistan game. It was Bangladesh's seventh defeat from as many games against Pakistan.

The Pakistan women raced to victory in 9.5 overs with Javeria Khan hitting an unbeaten 26.

Earlier, after winning the toss Bangladesh had scored four runs when they lost their first wicket, before losing two more without adding anything to the scorecard. They were eventually bundled out for 44.

Sana Mir took three wickets for five runs for Pakistan, while Aiman Anwer took two for nine. 

After the exchange, Bangladesh could scalp just one wicket when Khadija Tul Kubra had opener Ayesha Zafar leg before for two. However, Javeria Khan and Iram Javed posted an unbroken 31-run partnership for the second wicket to lead their side to a comfortable victory.

Bangladesh will play their fifth and final match against Sri Lanka at the same venue on Saturday.

SCORES IN BRIEF

BANGLADESH: 44 all out in 15.3 overs (Rumana 11, Jahanara 12 not out; Sana 3-5, Aiman 2-9)

PAKISTAN: 45 for one in 9.5 overs (Javeria 26, Iram 17; Khadija 1-18)

Result: Pakistan won by 9 wickets.