Bangladesh failed to capitalise on their decent start and faltered at the latter stage of the innings in their seven-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the Tigresses' first ICC Women's T20 World Cup game at Newlands in Cape Town on Sunday.  

Despite losing opener Murshida khatun early, Sobhana Mostary and Shamima Sultana consolidated for the Tigresses with knocks of 20-odd runs each. However, the Tigresses lost momentum in the middle and eventually managed to post a modest 126 for eight in 20 overs.  

According to skipper Nigar Sultana Joty, it was the batting department that let the Tigresses down. 

"I think that we were 15-20 runs short as we should have scored at least 140 or more runs to make it a competitive game since they have a strong batting line-up. We had a good start but we were unable to do well after the tenth over of the innings. We couldn't score boundaries after the Powerplay and I think it cost us badly," Joty told the media after the game on Sunday.

This was Bangladesh's 13th consecutive defeat in T20 World Cups, a dismal run extending back nine years across three events.  

Despite the big defeat, young pacer Marufa Akter grabbed the spotlight as the right-arm seamer impressed with her swing and variation, picking up three wickets in her first two overs without conceding any runs. Marufa was also on a hat-trick at one point.

"I tried to play confidently (during the ICC Uunder-19 Women's T20 World Cup last month) so that I would get an opportunity to play for the senior team. It feels good to pick up some quick wickets with the ball," a shy Marufa responded to the media after the game.