Bangladesh women’s cricket team were comprehensively beaten at the hands of their Indian counterparts, losing their Women’s Asia Cup match by 59 runs at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Shafali Verma’s half-century and a 47 off 38 balls innings from Smriti Mandhana helped India post 159-5 in their 20 overs after opting to bat first.
For Bangladesh, Rumana Ahmed was the pique of the bowlers with figures of 3-27.
In reply, Bangladesh never looked in pursuit of the target, as they batted without any intent and finished on 100-7 in 20 overs.
Skipper Nigar Sultana top-scored with 36 off 29 balls while opener Fargana Hoque made 30 off 40 balls.
India ringed in three changes after losing to Pakistan by 13 runs on Friday. They rested captain Harmanpreet Kaur and in her place Smriti led the team.
Smriti and Shafali laid the foundation of India’s excellent total with a 96-run opening stand off 72 balls.
Shafali, who was rested against Pakistan on Friday, made her intent clear from the start, smashing two fours and a six to take 17 runs in the fourth over off pacer Fariha Trishna.
Smriti joined the party in the sixth over, smashing Nahida Akhter for three consecutive fours as India reached 59-0 at the end of the powerplay.
They kept dominating the Bangladesh bowlers even after the powerplay, showing no signs of slowing down until the 12th over, when their partnership ended rather abruptly.
Smriti charged for a quick single from the non-striker’s end, but Shafali didn’t respond. Smriti was stranded at the middle of the pitch when Fahima Khatun broke the stumps.
Shafali completed her half-century off 40 balls and batted till the 15th over before losing her off-stump while attempting a reverse sweep against Rumana.
Rumana then dismissed Richa Ghosh (four off seven balls) and Kiran Prabhu Navgire (0) in the last two deliveries of the 17th over to reduce India to 125-4.
One-down batter Jemima Rodrigues remained unbeaten on 35 off 24 balls to guide India to a very good total against Bangladesh.
Similar to India, Bangladesh’s opening pair also batted deep into the innings. But unlike the Indian opening pair, Fargana and Murshida Khatun (21 off 25 balls) could not take on the Indian bowlers.
Their partnership finally ended when Murshida was caught at short cover off Sneh Rana with the score at 45-1 after 9.1 overs.
By then, the required rate was already over 10, leaving Bangladesh very little hope of posing any threat to India’s total.
Fargana’s laborious innings ended in the 15th over when she was caught at mid-on off Deepti Sharma.
Nigar struck five fours and tried to get Bangladesh as close to the target as possible before getting stumped off Shafali in the penultimate over.
Shafali and Deepti claimed two wickets for India.
With the win, India go two points clear at the top of the seven-team table with four wins and one defeat in five games.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, remain at no.3 with two wins and two defeats in four outings.
Bangladesh will next take on Sri Lanka at the same venue on 10 October.