India Women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur led the side to a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh Women in the first T20I match at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday.
With this, India started their new international season with a victory and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. For India, it was a near-perfect win as Bangladesh Women were no match for the side. Debutant Minnu Mani, Pooja Vastrakar and Shafali Verma were among the wickets whose performance helped restrict the hosts to 114/5 in 20 overs.
For Bangladesh, runs were hard to come by as the batters chose their shots poorly time and again. Shathi Rani collected four boundaries, but only managed to score 22 runs. Shamima Sultana’s 17 and Sobhana Mostary’s 23 were the only other notable contributions.
Shorna Akter showed some resilience with her 23 not out including two sixes to help Bangladesh to a total of 114/5 in their 20 overs.
Chasing 115 runs for the win, India’s Shafali Verma was dismissed early by Marufa Akter, while Smriti Mandhana kept the innings together. India also lost Jemimah Rodrigues for just 11 runs including two boundaries.
After her dismissal, skipper Harmanpreet Singh came in to lead the side to victory. She scored an unbeaten 54 of 35 balls including six boundaries and two sixes.
In the end, India ran out emphatic winners reaching the target in 16.2 overs left and seven wickets in hand. For Bangladesh, Sultana Khatun picked two wickets at an economy of 6.25 giving away 25 runs and Marufa Akter got one for 18 runs.
The next match will take place on July 11 at the same venue. India will be playing three T20Is and another three ODIs against Bangladesh during the tour.
