BAN-W vs PAK-W

8:55 PM local and IST: So, Bangladesh Women are victorious in their first match! Now, the bandwagon moves to Guwahati again as England Women take on South Africa Women tomorrow from 3:00 PM local time and IST. Do make sure to join us for that as our coverage of the Women's World Cup rolls on! This is the pair of Pradeep and Bidipto taking your leave. Keep following Sportskeeda! 

Nigar Sultana [Bangladesh Women captain]: "I am happy! A good toss to lose, because we wanted to bat as well. But I told my girls that we need some early wickets. And Marufa did exactly that to steal the show! She is very confident, and quite mature. The rest of the bowlers backed her up as well. At the halfway stage, we discussed that we had to score and play our natural game. Rubya Haider played an excellent innings! There will be nerves, but we got through all of that to pick up this win. This will give us more confidence for the rest of the tournament."

Fatima Sana [Pakistan Women captain]: "We lost two early wickets, that was the turning point of the game. We will try to bounce back in the next game. We collapsed at the start, we need to execute our plans better next game. Some of the players playing for the first time in the world cup, definitely it's pressure but hopefully they can minimize the mistakes in the upcoming games. Everyone are match winners, we need to be calm on the field. Better pitch for the fast bowlers, it was seaming. We should've batted better."

Marufa Akter is the Player of the Match! Here's what she has to say: "All my team members have supported to me. In the dressing room, I get words like Marufa you are a good bowler, you can do it. Analyst helps me to correct my mistakes when I was working with her two months ago and I did it today. I saw there was some swing on offer, that helped me with good lines and lengths. I loved both the wickets. First I didn't see the ball, but I realised that it was heading towards me and held on to it. I always believe that I'm the best fielder in the team."

8:40 PM local and IST: Bangladesh Women win by 7 wickets with 18 overs and 5 balls to spare! 

Rubya Haider 54* (77) | Shorna Akter - 3/5 (3.3)
Rameen Shamim 23 (39) | Diana Baig - 1/14 (8)

It was not a big total to chase down and Bangladesh made sure that the job was done without much fuss! Yes there were a few dot balls too many but on the whole, the batting unit did what was required. 

Rubya Haider was the star of the show, scoring an unbeaten half-century in her ODI and World Cup debut! She did get a life, but she took her time to get used to the pace of the pitch and played an important innings for her team. 

It was that partnership between skipper Nigar Sultana and Rubya, that took the team to safety after the initial hiccup. But Sobhana Mostary's six boundaries took care of everything else after the captain's dismissal! 

Bangladesh have improvements to make in the batting side of things, but a win is a win and that too, in the first game of the World Cup! So, they will be buoyed by this effort for sure! 

31.1 Nashra Sandhu to Sobhana Mostary, FOUR! THAT'S IT! Bangladesh kick off their campaign with a win against Pakistan, it's just their second win the ICC World Cup. Mostary hits the winning runs. Short outside the off-stump, Mostary didn't miss out again, reaches and cuts it hard past the cover region and it races away to seal the deal.

Bangladesh had ample time to run a single in the last delivery of the over, but, decided to stay on the safer side! Too safe perhaps, but, it's very much job done for them! Mostary hits the winning runs. Short outside the off-stump, width on offer and Mostary didn't miss out again, cuts it hard in the gap, through covers and races away to the ropes.

30.5 Sadia Iqbal to Sobhana Mostary, angled the length delivery into leg-stump. Mostary misses the clip, went off the pad into the on-side, single taken.

30.4 Sadia Iqbal to Sobhana Mostary, FOUR! All class now from Mostary. Length delivery in the channel, Mostary presses and just eases it through covers and it's another boundary. Just one hit away now for Bangladesh.

30.2 Sadia Iqbal to Rubya Haider, TOP EDGED AND SAFE! Good length on the off-stump, Haider was shaping up for a swipe, but the extra-bounce takes the top edge over the keeper's head, lands safely and they get one.