Colombo : An unbeaten half-century from Rubya Haider and her match-winning partnership with skipper Nigar Sultana, backed by fine bowling from young pacer Marufa Akter, helped Bangladesh thrash an out-of-depth Pakistan by seven wickets in their ICC Women’s World Cup match here on Thursday.

Rubya struck a 77-ball unbeaten 54 (4×8) and shared a 62-run partnership with skipper Sultana (23 off 44 balls) for the third wicket as Bangladesh overhauled the target of 130 with 113 balls to spare, reaching 131 for 3 in 31.1 overs.

Rubya played with caution initially after Bangladesh lost opener Fargana Hoque and Sharmin Akhter early but once she got the feel of the pitch, the 28-year-old hit a flurry of boundaries to make the chase look easy.

She belted three boundaries in the 19th over bowled

See Full Page