Harmanpreet Kaur’s spin brigade pulled off a tough task against Bangladesh as they defended a 96-run target at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka on July 11. Shafali Verma's three-fer including last-over heroics, Deepti Sharma's three-fer and Minnu Mani's economical spell with the new ball helped India beat the hosts by eight runs and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-T20I series. This is the second-lowest score defended by India in T20Is.
Earlier, Harmanpreet won the toss and opted to bat first. After a three-ball duck in the first T20I, Shafali Verma got off to a good start. She hit three consecutive fours in the third over. Smriti Mandhana hit a few boundaries as well. Nahida Akter got the breakthrough as Mandhana missed the sweep and got bowled for a run-a-ball 13. In the next over, Sultana Khatun got wickets off consecutive deliveries. Shafali miscued the lofted shot and got out for a 14-ball 19. Half-centurion of previous game, Harmanpreet got bowled as she could not pick the length ball angled in. After powerplay overs, India were 37/3.
Jemimah Rodrigues struggled to rotate the strike. Yastika Bhatia took the risk and went for a big shot. She got caught at long-on. Yastika scored 11 runs from 13 balls. Boundaries dried up as Harleen Deol and Rodrigues played too many dot balls. In the 14th over, Rodrigues went down the track and got stumped off Rabeya Khan. She scored just eight runs from 21 deliveries. In the next over, Deol went for the aggressive shot and got caught. She scored just six runs from 21 balls. No boundaries were scored for nine overs.
Amanjot Kaur ended the drought of boundaries right after Deol's wicket. It was followed by two more quiet overs. Amanjot found a boundary in the 18th over. In the penultimate over, Deepti got a boundary as well but lost her wicket to Fahima Khatun. In the final over, Amanjot got out off the first ball. She scored 14 runs from 17 balls. In the final over, Mani and Vastrakar hit one boundary each to take India's score to 95/8.
Chasing 96, Bangladesh made an impact straightaway. Shamima Sultana and Shathi Rana hit one boundary each. Then Mani got the wicket of Sultana who went for a sweep and managed just a top-edge. Mani started off with a wicket-maiden. In the next over, Deepti dismissed Rani for a single-digit score. No more boundaries were scored in the powerplay overs as Bangladesh were 21/2.
After powerplay overs, Murshida Khatun tried to break the shackles as she went down the track and attempted a wild slog. She became Bareddy Anusha's maiden T20I wicket. Mani in her last over trapped Ritu Moni in front of the stumps. She conceded just nine runs and picked up a couple of wickets. At halfway stage, Bangladesh were 41/4. Shorna Akter played too many dot deliveries and the pressure got to her. Deepti completed a simple caught and bowled to dismiss Akter in the 15th over.
Sultana ended the boundary dropped in the 18th over and was dropped by Deol at long-on as well. In the penultimate over, she got stumped off Deepti's bowling. She scored 38 runs from 55 balls including two fours. In the last over, Bangladesh needed 10 runs. First ball, Rabeya got run out trying to complete a couple of runs. Then Nahida got out trying to play a lofted shot. Fahima and Marufa got out for two-ball ducks as Bangladesh got all out for 87 in 20 overs and lost the match by eight runs.
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