Bahrain slumped to a crushing 10-wicket defeat to Nepal in their second game of the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifer in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Coming off an impressive five-wicket victory over Qatar in their first match just the day before, the kingdom’s team collapsed to 31 all out in 15.4 overs after captain Deepika Rasangika won the toss and elected to bat first.
Needing only 32 to win off 20 overs, the Nepal openers raced to the target in just 2.5 overs with Kabita Kunwar finishing with 17 not out and Sita Rana Magar unbeaten on two and the Bahrain bowlers adding to their team’s dismal display by spraying 13 wides.
Earlier, medium-pacer Indu Barma was the chief destroyer for Nepal, snapping up three wickets for five runs off her four overs as Bahrain subsided first to eight for three and then lost their last seven wickets for just eight runs, sliding from 23 for three to 31 all out.
Only Rasangika managed to reach double-figures, top-scoring with 11 while two batters made five runs each, another scored four and five failed to get off the mark.
“This was a bad day for us,” Bahrain coach Azeem Ul Haque told the GDN by phone from Kuala Lumpur.
“We suffered a disastrous batting collapse. But this is all part of the learning curve for our players.”
Bahrain are now fourth in the six-team group with two points from two games but still have three matches to play and could yet bounce back to make the semi-finals.
“I remain hopeful that the team can get back into the race for the semi-finals with some good performances in the matches to come,” Haque said.
Bahrain will now play hosts Malaysia, who are at the bottom of the table after two successive defeats, tomorrow before squaring off against group leaders UAE – four points from two straight wins – on Monday.
They will play their last group match against Bhutan, who are in third place, also with two points but ahead of Bahrain on net run-rate, on Wednesday.
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