Pak crush Bangladesh to win women’s cricket gold in Asian Games, Japan bag bronze

GUANGZOU - Pakistan crushed Bangladesh by ten wickets to win the first-ever Asian Games women’s cricket tournament in Guangzhou on Friday.

It was Pakistan’s first gold in Guangzhou, The News reported.

After winning the toss, Pakistan skipper Sana Mir invited Bangladesh to bat first, and her players dismissed them for 92 runs in the allotted 20 overs.

For Bangladesh, Salma Khatoon scored 27 and Romana made 17, while for Pakistan, Nida Rashid claimed three and Sana took two wickets.

Earlier, Japan defeated hosts China by seven wickets to win the bronze medal.

China were restricted to 65-6 off their 20 overs before Japan reached their target with four balls to spare, the winning run coming tamely when off-spinner Wu Juan bowled a wide.

Japan captain Ema Kuribayashi, who plays club cricket in New Zealand, top-scored for her side with an unbeaten 24.

“We fought with calmness and concentration. We just tried to avoid getting out. We were focusing on doing our jobs,” said Kuribayashi, adding that the win would be a “great opportunity to promote cricket in Japan.”

Sun Huan, vice-captain of the losing side, said China were nervous and gave away too many extras.

“Our batters didn’t perform well in the beginning so it put a lot of pressure on our bowlers. But we were good on the whole, we stuck in there until the end.” (ANI)