Playing international cricket after four months, the India women's cricket team recorded an easy seven-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first T20I match on Sunday, July 9. After restricting the hosts to 114/5, captain Harmanpreet Kaur and star batter Smriti Mandhana shone with bat to give India a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Harmanpreet won the toss and elected to bowl first at Dhaka's Shere Bangla Stadium. Spin all-rounder from Kerala Minnu Mani and the young left-arm spinner Bareddy Anusha earned maiden international caps for India while Shathi Rani made her debut for Bangladesh.
Shathi and Shamima Sultana gave Bangladesh a decent start with a 27-run stand for the opening wicket. Mani made a big impact on her debut as she gave India a breakthrough with Sultana's valuable wicket in the fifth over. Shathi scored 22 off 26 on her debut before getting bowled out by Pooja Vastrakar in the ninth over.
Bangladesh batters struggled to play aggressive cricket throughout the game. Captain Nigar Sultana scored only two runs while Sobhana Mostary scored 23 off 33. The 16-year-old batter Shorna Akter top-scored with 28* off 28 for Bangladesh while Vastrakar, Mani, and Shafali Verma took one wicket each for India.
India had a terrible start to their innings while chasing an easy total. Young opener Shafali was dismissed on a duck on the innings' third delivery by young pacer Marufa Akter. Jemimah Rodrigues' poor form across formats continued as she was bowled out by Sultana Khatun and India were down at 21/2 after four overs.
Then Harmanpreet played a captain's knock and pulled off a 70-run partnership for the third wicket with Smriti Mandhana. The duo played sensible cricket to avoid wickets and accelerated pace after putting India in a comfortable position for the chase. Mandhana scored 38 off 34 before getting dismissed in the 14th over but Harmanpreet remained unbeaten on 54 off 35 to ensure a big win for India.
Harmanpreet ended the chase with two consecutive boundaries off Salma Khatun in the 17th over and also bagged the Player of the Match award.
