New Delhi: India posted a fine total of 159 after a cracking start from regular openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma. The target looked well out of the reach of Bangladesh’s batters and it was a victory that would bring back the confidence after the loss against Pakistan. While there was a short collapse in the middle, in form Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma finished well.
India rested Harmanpreet Kaur, Dayalan Hemalatha and Radha Yadav due to niggles, while they were replaced by Shafali Verma, Kiran Prabhu Navgire and Sneh Rana. Smriti and Shafali got India to a good start with a 96-run partnership in 12 overs. When India looked to reach 170-odd runs from there, Smriti ran to steal a single and got run out on 47 off 38 balls. Shafali went on to hit a half-century, which would have surely boosted her confidence, which was visible while she was bowling. She scored 55 off just 44 balls before she got out playing a reverse sweep to Rumana Ahmed. With this, she also became the youngest woman batter to reach 1000 T20I runs.
Bangladesh tried to come back in the game after Rumana Ahmed dismissed Richa Ghosh and KP Navgire on two consecutive deliveries. Rumana finished with 3-for-27 in her three overs. Deceived by flight, KP has been unable to make a mark in international cricket. Jemimah’s 35 off 24 and Deepti Sharma’s 10 off 5 helped India reach a good total. Salma Sultan bowled a really good last over to give just six runs and pick the dangerous player Deepti.
Fargana Hoque and Murshida Khatun tried to build an opening stand, but a slow run rate did not put any pressure on Indian bowlers. After scoring 45 in nine overs Khatun came down the track to hit Sneh Rana and delivered a catch straight to Mandhana. Deepti Sharma dismissed Hoque who played a steady but slow inning of 30(40) and in the next over Deepti ran out Rumana to put Bangladesh out of the competition.
The death overs were full of wickets and even Shafali rolled her arm and picked two in the 19th over. Bangladesh ended up with a perfect 100 with seven wickets down, just to lose the game by 59 runs.
