India beat Bangladesh by 44 runs in the first women’s T20I. cricket news

Pace duo of Renuka Singh and Pooja Vastrakar shared five wickets as India produced a superb bowling display to beat Bangladesh by 44 runs in the opening women’s T20I on Sunday. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Yastika Bhatia, who came to bat first, provided strength in the middle order, but India failed to perform well in the last moments and could only score 145 runs for seven wickets. The hosts might have fancied their chances of chasing the target, but the Indian bowlers, led by Renuka, restricted Bangladesh to 101 for 8.

Captain Nigar Sultana struggled alone scoring 51 runs from 48 but he did not get any support from the other end.

For India, Renuka was the leader of the bowling unit, dismissing Dilara Ector (4) with her third ball before clean bowling Shobhana Mosteri (6) in the 5th over.

After this, experienced spinner Deepti Sharma dismissed Murshida Khatoon (13) LBW, while Vastrakar dismissed Fahima Khatoon (1) on the pads in the 7th over, reducing the host team’s score to 30 runs for 4 wickets.

Radha Yadav also bowled a ball to dismiss Shoorna Ector (11), while Renuka dismissed Rabeya Khan (2). Shreyanka Patil also joined the party and sent back Nahida Akhtar (9) before falling to Sultana Vastrakar in the final over.

Earlier, charismatic opener Smriti Mandhana was out after scoring just nine runs, but Shafali Verma performed brilliantly by scoring 31 runs in 22 balls.

After this, Bhatia (36 runs on 29 balls) and Harmpreet (30 runs on 22 balls) made a partnership of 45 runs, due to which the Indian batsmen overcame the challenges on a slow wicket.

Bangladesh leg spinner Rabeya Khan was the most successful bowler for the host team, taking three wickets for 23 runs in four overs.

Mandhana made the right start in the second over by dismissing consecutive balls from Sultan Khatoon.

The India vice-captain danced down the track at first to loft the ball over the extra cover fielder before slicing a short-pitched delivery through the square leg region.

But Mandhana’s stay was cut short as she tried to play the ball across the line from Fariha Trisna (1/23), but a thick inside edge uprooted her leg stump.

That blow kept the Indian batsmen silent for an over, before Shafali made her intentions clear by hitting a huge six over the long-on fence off Khatoon.

Shafali and Yastika continued to score at a reasonable rate, picking up loose balls from Fariha and Nahida Akhtar and hitting boundaries.

But Shafali was out in the ninth over while trying to play Rabeya Khan’s ball across the line and gave an easy catch to Fahima at extra cover.

With Harmanpreet coming to the crease along with Yastika, runs started flowing freely. He singled out Rabia for special treatment after scoring 13 runs with the help of two fours in the 11th over.

Yastika also showed excellent technique and timing and hit some brilliant fours on left arm fast bowler Fariha Trisna in the 13th over, due to which India crossed 100 runs.

But both the well-set batsmen were out in quick succession, with Harmanpreet declared LBW off Fahima in the 14th over and Rabeya getting the prized wicket of Yastika, which was caught by Sultana in the point region.

Earlier, Harmanpreet won the toss and decided to bat first. The five-match T20I series is a dress rehearsal for the upcoming T20I World Cup to be held in Bangladesh later this year.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)