Spinners stifle Bangladesh before Dayalan Hemalatha shines with the bat on her comeback into the India team to give the visitors a 2-0 lead courtesy of the DLS method.
The Indian women’s team led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur clinched the 1st T20I by a comprehensive 44-run margin. Renuka Singh was awarded the Player of the Match for her sensational, match-winning (4-0-18-3) spell with the ball.
Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana Joty won the toss and opted to bat first. The Bangladesh openers got off to a good start before they lost the wicket of Dilara Akter in the 2nd over of the innings. Deepti Sharma provided the first breakthrough for India. Sobhana Mostary joined Murshida Khatun at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 28-run partnership for the 2nd wicket before Shreyanka Patil picked up the wicket of Sobhana Mostary to provide the 2nd breakthrough for her side.
Skipper Nigar Sultana Joty joined Murshida Khatun at the crease and the duo stitched a 22-run partnership for the 3rd wicket before Radha Yadav picked up the big wicket of the opposition skipper Nigar Sultana Joty to provide the 3rd breakthrough for India. Bangladesh lost a couple of wickets in quick succession and found themselves at 69/5 in the 11th over of the innings. Ritu Moni joined opening batter Murshida Khatun at the crease and the rain arrived for a brief period of time. However, fortunately, no overs were reduced on the resumption of play.
The duo stitched a 32-run partnership for the 6th wicket before Deepti Sharma came back and cleaned up Ritu Moni to provide the 6th breakthrough for India. The home side Bangladesh was eventually bundled out for 119 in their quota of overs. Murshida Khatun (46 off 49 balls), Ritu Moni (20 off 18 balls), and Sobhana Mostary (19 off 15 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Bangladesh.
Radha Yadav (4-0-19-3), Deepti Sharma (4-0-14-2), and Shreyanka Patil (4-0-24-2) were the top performers with the ball for India. Chasing a target of 120, India got off to a poor start as they lost the wicket of their opening batter Shafali Verma for a golden duck. Marufa Akter provided the first breakthrough for Bangladesh, just on the 2nd ball of the run chase. Dayalan Hemalatha who is making her comeback into the Indian team, joined opening batter Smriti Mandhana at the crease and has looked confident taking the aggressor route, doing the bulk of the scoring in the partnership, so far.
The rains refused to allow any further play in the 2nd T20I as the game was eventually abandoned. India got over the line by 19 runs as per the DLS method to go 2-0 up in the five-match T20I series. Dayalan Hemalatha (41 off 24 balls) was the stand-out performer with the bat for India. The 3rd T20I will be played at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on 2nd May 2024 (Thursday).