1st T20I, Mirpur, July 09, 2023, 01:30 PM
114/5(20.0ov)
118/3(16.2ov)
India Women beat Bangladesh Women by 7 wickets
Right then, that's it from the coverage of this game. These two teams will meet again on 11th July for the second T20I. India Women can seal the series in a couple of days, while Bangladesh Women would be eyeing to make a comeback in this series. To find out how things pan out, you can join us at 1.30 pm IST (8 am GMT). Also, you can catch the build-up a bit earlier. Until then, take care and goodbye!
Harmanpreet Kaur, the skipper of India Women is also the Player of the Match for scoring a half-century and taking her side across the finish line. She says that she is really happy as it was a complete team effort. Claims that she wanted to see how the debutants bowled in the first six overs and they showed how important they could be to the side. Adds that Deepti Sharma did remarkably well too. Mentions that Smriti Mandhana is always ready to give her 100% and showed her abilities once again. Ends by saying that when you have batters like Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, they are not worried and they wanted to finish the game early.
Nigar Sultana, the captain of Bangladesh Women is in for a chat. She says that they were 20-25 runs short on this kind of wicket. Mentions that they started well with the bat, but in the middle overs they could not really find the boundaries and that took the game away from them. States that there were too many dot balls in their innings.
Stay tuned for the presentation...
Bangladesh Women could not really maintain the pressure with the ball in hand, after starting on a positive note. They were not so good at fielding as well as Harmanpreet Kaur was dropped early on. There is a reason why they say catches win matches, if this one was taken then things could've panned out in Bangladesh's favor. Coming to their bowling department, it was only Salma Khatun who stood out with the ball with her brace, while the rest of the bowling order kept leaking runs without causing any trouble.
Marufa Akter was on the money with the new ball, and such that she even got rid of the dangerous Shafali Verma on a duck. Although, Marufa Akter could not really hurt any other Indian batting order in her spell of three overs. Jemimah Rodrigues looked solid when she came in to bat but slipped out early after hitting a few boundaries. Despite losing two quick wickets, India Women's batters held their nerves in this chase of a modest total. Smriti Mandhana put her cracking shots on display for everyone to see, and slowly and gradually got her side back in the game with the help of her skipper. The third-wicket stand of 70 runs between the two did all the damage and helped India to take an early lead in this series away from home.
With the way Bangladesh started their innings with the ball, it looked like India would be in some kind of trouble, but it was the third-wicket stand between Smriti Mandhana and the India Women skipper, Harmanpreet Kaur which certainly put the game to bed. Eventually, the skipper led from the front and racked up the winning runs to hand her side a 1-0 lead in this T20I series.
In over# 17
4
6
Salma Khatun 32/0(3.2)
16.2
4
FOUR! Harmanpreet Kaur helps India Women over the finish line in style! Salma Khatun tosses this one full as well and outside the off pole. Harmanpreet Kaur goes aerial and thumps this towards wide long on to get the four winning runs for her team.
16.1
6
SIX! That is FIFTY for Harmanpreet Kaur and she has helped India Women to level the scores here! Salma Khatun flights this full and outside the off stump. Harmanpreet Kaur gets down on her knee and slog sweeps this over deep mid-wicket for six runs.
In over# 16
0
1
1
0
0
1
Nahida Akter 18/0(3)
15.6
.
Attacks the stumps on a fuller length. Yastika Bhatia hits this back towards the bowler.
15.5
1
Continues to bowl full and outside the off pole. Harmanpreet Kaur hits this hard towards long off for another run.
15.4
1
Loops this one full as well and wide outside off. Yastika Bhatia gets across to the off side and paddles this towards fine leg for a single.
15.3
.
Goes full again and just outside off. Yastika Bhatia knocks this straight to the fielder at mid off.
15.2
.
This is fired full and outside off. Yastika Bhatia looks to play this fine but misses.
15.1
1
Nahida Akter floats this full and outside the off stump. Harmanpreet Kaur drills this towards long off for one.
In over# 15
1
1
0
4
2wd
1
0
Salma Khatun 22/0(3)
14.6
1
Short this time and at the stumps. Harmanpreet Kaur mistimes her pull towards square leg and takes a single to keep strike. India Women need just 10 runs to win now.
