Shafali, Kaur in focus as India square up against Bangladesh in feisty encounter

Young Indian opener Shafali Verma would look to make an impact with the willow after a poor start in the series opener as Indian women aim to clinch the threematch T20 International series against Bangladesh with another dominant performance in the second game on TuesdayIndia coasted to an easy sevenwicket victory in the opening match on Sunday with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur blazing her way to an unbeaten 35ball 54 and Smriti Mandhana looking equally dangerous during her short but significant knock of 38The slow bowlers were also on target as the two debutants Anusha Bareddy and Minnu Mani gave a good account of themselves under senior offspinner Deepti SharmaHowever what stuck out like a sore thumb was Shafalis threeball duck and once again the distinct lack of footwork was evident against medium pacer Marufa AkterThe young Haryana woman is one of the biggest batting talents in the country and has already played 57 T20I games even before completing her 20th birthdayWhile she could be breathtaking when on song her consistency has been an issue with only one score of 50plus in the last 10 games in the shortest versionAlso Read India off with a bang against BangladeshHer last halfcentury in T20Is came last year against Australian women during a home series and since then had a quiet World Cup in South AfricaThere are still a few technical issues which one expects chief coach Amol Muzumdar would address in the coming daysBangladesh are such opponents which will give Shafali a good chance to regain some form and notch up a big score at the top of the orderHarmanpreets unit has shown the gulf in cricketing standards between the two teams and it will be a huge upset if Bangladesh win on Tuesday and restore parity in the seriesThe difference in quality between the two teams was there to be seen when Bangladesh batted as the only batter to at least score at runaball strikerate was Shorna Akter who struck two sixes in her 28ball28 that took the home team past 100run markWhat has worked to Indias advantage is the fact that all of Bangladeshs top seven batters are righthanders and that has allowed the Indian skipper to stick to one particular line on a ShereBangla track where the ball at times stops before coming onto the batHarmanpreets clever ploy of loading the offside cordon with five fielders worked wonderfully well as the Bangladeshi batters were often seen trying to fetch the deliveries pitched on the imaginary fourth or fifth offstump and hit them through the vacant onsideBut Deepti Anusha and Minu did maintain a tight line which didnt allow them to manoeuvre muchIt was a good toss to win for Harmanpreet during the opening game and if the spin of coin goes in her favour once again she might see how well the batting unit performs while trying to set a targetThis will also give Shafali a chance to express herself freely in Mandhana and Harmanpreets company and give the glimpse of a player that everyone wants to pay to watchPredicted Playing XIs for 2nd T20IIndia Harmanpreet Kaur c Smriti Mandhana Deepti Sharma Shefali Verma Jemimah Rodrigues Yastika Bhatia wk Harleen Deol Devika Vaidya Uma Chhetri wk Amanjot Kaur S Meghna Pooja Vastrakar Meghna Singh Anjali Sarwani Monika Patel Rashi Kanojia Anusha Bareddi Minnu ManiBangladesh Nigar Sultana cw Shamima Sultana Murshida Khatun Sobhana Mostary Shorna Akter Ritu Moni Nahida Akter Fahima Khatun Rabeya Khan Shanjida Akter Salma Khatun Marufa Akter Dilara Akter Disha Biswas Sultana Khatun Shathi RaniWith PTI inputs