Bangladesh’s men’s and women’s cricket teams registered convincing victories in the T20 events on the fourth day of the South Asian Games, a day that passed with Bangladesh failing to add to their tally of four gold medals.

The men’s cricket team romped to a 109-run victory over minnows Maldives, thanks to a five-wicket haul from left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam.   

The youngster from the High Performance team bagged five wickets for 19 runs as Bangladesh bowled Maldives out for 65 after posting 174 for the loss of four wickets. Soumya Sarkar (46), Mohammad Naim (48) and skipper Nazmul Hossain Shanto (49) helped Bangladesh post a challenging total, which the Maldivians were simply unable to counter.

Tanvir was happy with a five-wicket haul and admitted that the wicket at the Tribhuvan University Ground was helpful for spin bowling.

“The wicket gripped, turned and bounced a bit, which helped the spinners. I tried to pitch the ball in the right places and got the wickets,” said the spinner, who hails from Barishal.  

It was Bangladesh’s first match and they will take on Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka in their remaining round-robin games.  

There was an even more dominant victory for the women’s team, who romped to a 10-wicket win over Nepal in Pokhara.  

Fielding first, Bangladesh bowled the hosts out for 50 runs, with Rabeya Khan taking four wickets for eight runs. Murshida Khatun’s unbeaten 23 and Ayesha Rahman’s unbeaten 26 powered Bangladesh to the victory target in 7.4 overs.  

Al Amin jumps to bronze

Long-jumper Al Amin won a bronze medal to give Bangladesh their second medal from athletics following Mahfuzur Rahman’s silver in high-jump the previous day.   

The Navy athlete, who had won a bronze at the 2010 Games, cleared 7.6 metres to settle for third position. India’s Lokesh Sathiana (7.87m) won gold while his fellow Indian Swaminathan Rabh won silver (7.77m).  

“This is a dream medal for me. Considering the state of athletics in Bangladesh, I’m happy with this bronze,” said the 30-year-old athlete, adding that they do not get proper facilities in the country.  

However, there were frustrating performances in the 200m sprint where Bangladesh’s Shirin Akter finished seventh with a timing of 25.59 seconds in the women’s event while Saiful Islam finished seventh in the men’s event with a timing of 21.70 seconds.  

Silver and bronze in kho kho

Bangladesh men’s kho kho team lost to India by 16-9 points in the final -- a repeat of last edition’s final -- to settle for a silver medal. The women’s team, meanwhile, beat Sri Lanka by two points to win a bronze medal.  

Bronze rush in wushu

Bangladesh won seven bronze medals in wushu yesterday. Sadia Akter, Bashana Khandaker and Rita Biswash won bronze in separate weight categories for women while Milon Hossain, Rakib Khandaker, Rubel Khan and Selim Ahmed won in different categories of men’s wushu. Bangladesh’s Sajib Hossain has, meanwhile, reached the final by beating his Sri Lankan counterpart in his category.