Indian umpire’s controversial decisions and Knight deny Bangladesh historic win
In the end, it would not be wrong to say Bangladesh lost to Knight’s experience. At 34, Knight has played 150 ODIs herself, while Bangladesh, as a team, have featured in only 79 in total.
England's batters kept sending the ball to the boundary, and the faces of the Bangladeshi cricketers grew increasingly downcast. With every boundary, Bangladesh's dream of victory seemed to fade a little more.
In the end, under the night sky of Guwahati, it was Heather Knight who brought England a smiling victory — plunging the Bangladesh dressing room into gloom. Yet, the story could have been very different if two umpiring decisions had gone Bangladesh's way. On nought, Knight edged a ball behind to wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana, and the on-field umpire raised his finger. However, the third umpire overturned the decision due to lack of conclusive evidence, giving Knight a lifeline. Later, on 13, she was caught by Shorna Akter — but once again, TV umpire Gayathri Venugopalan of India ruled her not out for the same reason. After the match, even Knight admitted she thought she was out.
In the end, it would not be wrong to say Bangladesh lost to Knight's experience. At 34, Knight has played 150 ODIs herself, while Bangladesh, as a team, have featured in only 79 in total. Yet, such facts hardly lessen the frustration of a four-wicket defeat in a Women's World Cup match — after all, teams like England cannot be put under such pressure every day.
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Despite setting a modest target of just 179 runs, Bangladesh's bowlers had begun to make the team dream. At 103 for six, England were wobbling and Bangladesh's hopes were soaring. But Knight's composed 79 off 111 balls ultimately shattered those dreams.
The bowling effort had started brilliantly — Marufa Akter struck with the last ball of the very first over. She then dropped a catch off Tammy Beaumont in her next, but redeemed herself by dismissing Beaumont when England were on 29. England steadied things through a 40-run stand in 73 balls between Nat Sciver-Brunt and Knight, but Fahima Khatun brought Bangladesh right back into the contest.
Within the space of three balls, Fahima dismissed Sciver-Brunt — who had scored 32 off 41 — and Sophia Dunkley for a duck. Later, she also claimed Emma Lamb as her third victim. England were reeling at 103 for six when Sanjida Akter removed Alice Capsey.
At that stage, England still needed 76 runs with four wickets in hand. From there, Knight and Charlie Dean guided their team home with a 79-run partnership.
Earlier, Bangladesh's total of 179 owed much to two batters — Sobhana Mostary and Rabeya Khan. Coming in at number three, Sobhana scored 60 off 108 balls before being dismissed in the 47th over. At number nine, Rabeya played a blistering cameo — 43 off just 27 balls, hitting six fours and a six — to lift Bangladesh to a fighting total.
