India off with a bang against Bangladesh

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur started the new international season with a smashing halfcentury as the Indian womenrsquos team cantered to a sevenwicket victory over Bangladesh in the opening T20 International here on SundayOpting to bowl the Indian spinners used the conditions to their advantage and restricted Bangladesh to a meagre 114 for 5In reply Harmanpreet 54 not out 35 balls and her deputy Smriti Mandhana 38 off 34 balls added 70 runs for the third wicket to chase down the target in just 162 oversHarmanpreet KaurThe skipper hit six boundaries and two sixes and made best use of the two reprieves that she got off leftarm spinner Nahida Akterrsquos bowlingMandhana was the pacesetter for India as she hit some delectable boundaries five of them in all including a rasping square cut off seamer Marufa Akter and an inside out lofted coverdrive They were shots out of top drawerThis was after the Indian bowlers set it up perfectly for the batters who had to hardly break a sweat while chasing down an easy targetIndia spin a webThe spin attack led by the experienced Deepti Sharma 014 in 4 overs along with debutants mdashslow left arm orthodox Anusha Bareddy 024 in 4 overs and offbreak bowler Minnu Manni 121 in 3 oversmdashexecuted skipper Harmanpreet Kaurrsquos plan of bowling on one side of the wicket perfectlyAlso Read India Women vs Bangladesh Women 1st T20I Highlights Harmanpreet Kaur 50 helps India win by 7 wicketsLegspinner Shafali Verma 118 in 3 overs was also mostly on target save a six that topscorer Sorna Akhtar 28 off 28 balls hit off her bowlingThe idea was to pack the offside field with five fielders and bowl on the fourth or fifth offstump line and the Bangladeshi batters mostly righthanders found it difficult to pierce the cordonThis was after debutant Mani got her maiden wicket when Shamima Sultana 17 after tonking the offie for a six couldnrsquot connect her slog sweep and Jemimah Rodrigues took a smart catch at square legPooja Vastrakar then softened Shathi Rani 22 with a short ball before castling her with a perfect fuller deliveryShafali dismissed earlyWhen India started the chase Shafali paid price for her lack of footwork as she was adjudged plumb in front while being rooted to the crease Rodrigues was played on when she tried to cut an offbreak from Sultana Khatun However once Harmanpreet and Mandhana joined forces there was hardly any concernBrief scoresBangladesh 1145 in 20 overs S Akter 28 S Mostary 23 S Rani 22 lost to India 1183 in 162 overs H Kaur 54 S Mandhana 38 S Khatun 225by seven wicketsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever