The disciplined Bangladesh Bowlers shattered ‘strong’ Indian batting line-up and restricted the Women-in-Blue to 112 runs for 8 wickets in their allotted 20 overs on Sunday at the at the Kinrara Academy Oval, Kuala Lumpur.
Earlier, after winning the toss, Salma Khatun opted to bowl first and executed her plan well by restricting India to the mediocre target of 112 runs.
Elegant Indian opener Smriti Mandhana (7 runs off 12 balls) along with Mithali Raj (11 runs off 18 balls) opened the Indian innings, however, the duo failed to give India a decent start. In the fourth over of the game, Smriti Mandhana was sent back to the stands following a run-out.
Following Mandhana’s departure, Deepti Sharma (4 runs off 11 balls) joined Mithali at the crease but she too gifted her wicket to Jahanara Alam, and soon Raj was bowled out by Khadija Tul Kubra.
After Mithali’s departure, India continued to lose wickets on a regular interval and other than skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, no other India batter was able to counter Bangladesh’s Bowling attack.
Meanwhile, wicket-keeper batswoman Taniya Bhatia (3 runs off 6 balls) and T20 specialist Anuja Patil (3 runs off 4 balls) failed to impress. And explosive batswoman Veda Krishnamurthy (11 runs off 10 balls) once again failed in taking responsibility with the bat as Harmanpreet Kaur fought a lone battle.
Harmanpreet Kaur scored 56 runs off 42 balls and struck 7 boundaries in her innings.
Fall of Wickets:
India:
Bangladesh Women (Playing XI):Shamima Sultana (wk), Ayasha Rahman, Fargana Hoque, Sanjida Islam, Fahima Khatun, Jahanara Alam, Nigar Sultana, Rumana Ahmed, Salma Khatun (c), Khadija Tul Kubra, Nahida Akter
India Women (Playing XI): Mithali Raj, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Anuja Patil, Jhulan Goswami, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Ekta Bisht, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav