Disciplined bowling effort by Bangladesh, led by young pacer Marufa Akter and veteran spinner Nahida Akter, restricted Pakistan to a below-par 129 all out in 38.3 overs as they failed to capitalise on a docile batting track in their ICC Women's World Cup opening match here on Thursday.
Marufa (2/31), Bangladesh's 20-year-old right-arm pacer who has emerged as the team's frontline quick, gave Pakistan a massive jolt in the opening over, dismissing opener Omaima Sohail and batting stalwart Sidra Amin for first-ball ducks as Fatima Sana's side reeled at 2/1.
Slow left-arm bowling stalwart Nahida Akter (2/19) then piled more pressure on Pakistan by sending opener Muneeba Ali (17) and Rameen Shamim (23) back in quick succession just after the powerplay overs, thus thwarting the pair's hopes of building a partnership.
Pakistan were in dire straits at 41/2 at the end of the powerplay overs, and Marufa was the one who made it happen.
Playing in her 27th WODI, she took Pakistan completely by surprise with the new ball.
She first pitched a full-length inswinging delivery just outside off-stump to rattle Omaima Sohail's leg stump, and, on the very next ball, had the prized wicket of batting stalwart Sidra Amin. The in-form Pakistani batter went for a drive but got beaten by the big inswing to lose her leg stump.
Pakistan's other opener Muneeba Ali looked to be gathering her wits following the quick dismissals but after slamming two boundaries in the fourth over off right-arm spinner Nishita Akter Nishi, she too fell as the team slumped to 44/3.
Her partner, Rameen Shamim with whom she had built a 42-run stand, too departed two overs later as Pakistan were 44/7 in the 14th over.
The real spike in run-rate never came as Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals with Bangladesh tactically rotating their bowlers to keep the opponents clueless.
Pakistan, whose run-rate hardly ever crossed four runs per over, touched the 100 mark in the 30th over.
Pakistan managed 14 boundaries in their innings with only four coming in powerplay, a reflection of the slow pace with which they went about scoring runs.
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