India 142 for 6 (Verma 39, Rodrigues 34, Panna 2-25, Salma 2-25) beat Bangladesh 124 for 8 (Nigar 35, Murshida 30, Yadav 3-18,
Pandey 2-14) by 18 runs
India put on another adroit performance while defending a total, using smart bowling combinations to suffocate Bangladesh’s chase after squandering a brilliant start with the bat. Player-of-the-Match Shafali Verma’s 17-ball 39 anchored an innings that fell apart in the middle, but a late cameo from Veda Krishnamurthy helped India put up 142.
Bangladesh had little in the way of partnerships as they set about this chase as they were stifled by Poonam Yadav’s 3 for 18 and Shikha Pandey’s 2 for 14 to fall short by 18 runs. India are currently top of their group with two wins in two games.
No Mandhana, but India have their best powerplay Harmanpreet Kaur said at the toss that India had wanted to bat first and put up a decent score, a task that would be made slightly more difficult in the absence of opener Smriti Mandhana, who was out with a viral fever. In her place, 16-year-old Richa Ghosh was brought in, but it was wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia who opened with Verma.
While Bhatia was out second over, Verma continued her impressive march at the senior level. It began with medium pacer Jahnara Alam going around the wicket straight away to her in the first over, allowing her room to free her arms and slap one with the wind to clear the deep cover fielder. She also cleared long-on off Salma Khatun in the next over, before cashing in even more on Alam’s extra width, as she struggled to cope with Verma’s vicious on-the-up hitting from both over and around the wicket. – Agencies
