India 139 for 5 (Shafali 53, Rodrigues 26, Moni 2-29) beat Bangladesh 136 for 8 (Ferdous 33, Sultana 32, Radha 3-28) by five wickets

India drop three catches in four balls

India had a horror start under the blazing sun, and Bangladesh made them pay in the powerplay. Soon after Renuka Singh, who came in for Arundhati Reddy, had Dilara Akter caught at deep square leg, Juairiya Ferdous struck the quick straight back for four in the fourth over. Three balls later, Ferdous heaved Renuka to deep midwicket where Radha Yadav, who had also dropped Marizanne Kapp twice in India’s previous game, put down a straightforward chance and the ball went through for four. Three balls into the next over, Nandani Sharma spilled chances off both Sobhana Mostary and Ferdous. The first one was at cover where Mostary drove the ball uppishly on 1 before Nandani was moved to short third. But the ball followed her when Ferdous skied one off a sweep and Nandani put in a dive to her left, got both hands but again put it down.

Ferdous middled the next ball for a four on the leg side and Mostary beat point for four more to make it 10 off the over and lift the run rate to 6.40.

India fight back in the end

Even apart from the catching, India were not quite getting their lines and lengths right. The big-hitting Ferdous found the ropes against Shafali and Nandani while Mostary also went along at a brisk clip. The second-wicket stand had just crossed 50 when Nandani finally hung on to the quickest catch of the innings, grabbing a return chance of Ferdous on 33.

Deepti Sharma soon held an easy catch at mid-off to send Mostary back for 22 before Nigar Sultana ensured Bangladesh’s scoring rate didn’t suffer after the wickets. She bookended the 14th over by finding the gaps off Nandani for a 17-run over that lifted her team again.

As Bangladesh threatened to breach the 140-mark, India’s spinners brought them back with a collective performance. While Deepti dried up the runs, Radha, in the XI for Prema Rawat, and Shree Charani scripted a Bangladesh collapse of 5 for 28 in the last four overs.

Shafali gives India 63 in the powerplay

Bangladesh also came out bearing gifts for India at the start of the chase. Sultana first dropped Shafali on 4 in the first over and then leaked four off a Smriti Mandhana under edge, both off Marufa Akter. But Bangladesh didn’t take as long as India to get their catching right. Rabeya Khan put in a forward dive at cover at the end of the third over off Mandhana to break the opening stand of 31.

Shafali had taken most of the strike until then and had started nailing her swings in the ‘V’. She swung a six over long-on and followed it with drives through the covers and mid-off in the second over to give India a flying start. Bangladesh found it hard to keep her quiet as Shafali continued to pepper the cover boundaries using her strong bottom hand. By the time she lofted Sanjida Akter over mid-off for consecutive fours and ended the powerplay with 63 on the board, Shafali had hammered seven fours and a six in the phase, compared to the five fours Bangladesh had hit in their first six.

India stutter their way to victory

Soon after Shafali brought up a 29-ball fifty when she punched Rabeya for four, India would have hoped to get over the victory line convincingly. But their batting concerns followed them for the fourth game in a row. Shafali was stumped for 53 when she thought she had edged the ball beyond the keeper and India promoted Richa Ghosh over Jemimah Rodrigues perhaps to finish things off for an NRR boost. While Ghosh started with a couple of boundaries, Yastika Bhatia and Ghosh fell in consecutive overs before India could cross 100.

Ninety-eight for 4 could have easily become 103 for 5 or even 104 for 5 as the boundaries dried up and Harmanpreet and Rodrigues gave run-out chances that Bangladesh couldn’t pounce on. The first one was nearly a gift when Rodrigues nearly came face to face with her partner at the keeper’s end but Nahida Akter failed to collect the throw from short fine leg while Rodrigues made it back with a dive. Four balls later, Harmanpreet would have been well short of her ground at the bowler’s end but this time Shorna Akter missed the direct hit. Sensing some nerves, Rodrigues made 20 runs off the next five balls she faced with the help of a six and three fours to bring India within nine runs of victory.

Rodrigues, however, couldn’t see the team through as she skied a catch to short third before Harmanpreet and Deepti finished things off in the 17th over.