Shafali Verma’s last over three wickets helped India to win the series against Bangladesh women. A day where bowlers put their name, whether it’s India or Bangladesh, both teams performed brilliantly in the bowling department. Deepti Sharma also grabbed three crucial wickets due to which she was rewarded as the player of the match. India won the match by 8 runs.
Firstly Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bat first. The Indian openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma gave a good start. In four overs both of them together contributed 33 runs but just then in the 5th over Mandhana missed the sweep and Nahida Akhtar bowled her. He went for 13 runs. In the next over the other Indian opener Shafali also returned to the pavilion. She hits a lofted shot but it goes high up the air and Sultana Khatun gets her. She departed after scoring 19 runs.
In the very next delivery Khatun gets the destructive and most reliable Indian batter Harmanpreet Kaur. She goes for a golden duck. India lost three wickets in the same score and were 33-3. Yastika Bhatia was the next one gone. Fahima Khatun gets the reward and dismisses the Indian wicket-keeper. He made 11 runs. After the 4 wickets fell Indian scoring moves very slowly as a result Jemimah Rodrigues moved her step forward and balls spins and kisses the edge and Nigar Sultana didn’t waste any moment to take away her stumps. Rabeya Khan dismisses her on her score of 6.
In the next over Harleen Deol tries to hit over the boundary and gets caught by Rabeya Khan. Sultana Khatun gets her third. Harleen made 6 runs. In the end Deepti Sharma and Amanjot Kaur tried some hands but they both got dismissed, one in the 2nd last over and one in the last over. Deepti made 10 runs and was dismissed by Fahima Khatun while Amanjot made 14 runs and was dismissed by Marufa Akter in the last over.
Pooja Vastrakar and Minni Manu remained unbeaten at the end and made 7 & 5 runs respectively. India made 95-8 at the end of 20 overs. Sultana Khatun took 3 wickets. Fahima Khatun took 2 wickets. Marufa Akter, Nahida Akter and Rabeya Khan get 1 wicket each.
Since the target was pretty low, Bangladesh Women started solid and put 10 runs in the 1st over. And the asking rate drips down. But in the 2nd over, Minnu Mani got India their 1st wicket by dismissing Shamima Sultana. She made 5 runs. Then afterwards Deepti clicked her 1st wicket and took the wicket of Shathi Rani. She departed after scoring 5 runs. Bareddy Anusha gets her maiden T20 wicket by taking the wicket of Murshida Khatun. He made 4 runs only.
In the 8th over, Minnu Mani again strikes and this time she takes the wicket of Ritu Moni. Moni contributed only 4 runs. As the wickets fell the asking run rate was getting higher and higher. Then again India struck again in the 15th over and Deepti Sharma did the work this time. Shorna Akter goe for 7 runs. Then after that Sharma takes the well settled Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana at the score of 38 runs.
Now the equation for the last over was 10 runs with 4 wickets in hand and it was looking quite achievable by Bangladesh. But then Shafali Verma bowled a brilliant over. In the last over, first delivery Rabeya Khan was run out with a fine throw of Amanjot and Verma took the bails off. He goes out on a duck. In the next delivery she took the wicket of Nahida Akter. She made 6 runs.
Then in the 4th delivery she took the wicket of Fahima Khatun and caught the ball also. Khatun goes for a duck. In the last ball she grabbed Marufa Akter. Akter also didn’t score any runs. Therefore in the last only one run was scored and 4 wickets fell.
Bangladesh made only 87 runs in 20 overs and all of them were out. As a result India won the match by 8 runs. Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma got 3 wickets each. Minnu Mani got 2 while Bareddy Anusha got 1 wicket.
India clinched the series by 2-0 and there is still one game left.