Harmanpreet Kaur’s splendid fifty lifts India 1-0 up

Bangladesh and India locked horns in the first T20I of the three-match series on July 9 at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka. India captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and invited Bangladesh to bat first. The hosts got off to a steady start as openers Shathi Rani (22 off 26) and Shamima Sultana (17 off 13) added 27 runs for the first wicket before Minnu Mani dismissed Sultana.

Shobhana Mistry (23 off 33) walked in at number three and added 25 runs with Rani but Bangladesh got their second blow as Rani was cleaned up by Pooja Vastrakar. The batters were having a tough time in the middle as they failed to come to terms with the slowness of the surface.

Captain Nigar Sultana walked in at number four but failed as her innings (2 off 7) was cut short due to a run out in the 11th over. Mistry also fell shortly after as she was stumped against Shafali Verma, leaving Bangladesh on 78/4 in the 16th over. A steady unbeaten 28 off as many balls from Shoma Akter took Bangladesh to 114/5. Vastrakar (1/16), Mani (1/21, 3 overs) and Shafali (1/18, 3 overs) were among the wickets for India.

In reply, India’s chase got off to the worst possible start as Akter got rid of the dangerous Shafali for a duck in the first over itself. India got their second blow as Jemimah Rodrigues (11 off 14) chopped one back onto her stumps against Sultana Khatun, leaving her side on 21/2 after four overs.

After the early blows, Smriti Mandhana (38 off 34) and Harmanpreet Kaur (54 off 35) stabilised the innings with their 70-run stand off 55 balls. Mandhana failed to take her team home getting stumped against Khatun in the 14th over.

However, Harmanpreet made sure there were no more hiccups in the chase as she guided her team home with her splendid haff-century, smashing six fours and two sixes. India eventually chased the target in 16.2 overs and won the match by seven wickets to go 1-0 up in the series.