Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey close out India win
India 142 for 6 (Verma 39, Rodrigues 34, Panna 2-25, Salma 2-25) beat Bangladesh 124 for 8 (Nigar 35, Murshida 30, Yadav 3-18, Pandey 2-14) by 18 runs
No Mandhana, but India have their best powerplay
Harmanpreet Kaur said at the toss that India had wanted to bat first and put up a decent score, a task that would be made slightly more difficult in the absence of opener Smriti Mandhana, who was out with a viral fever. In her place, 16-year-old Richa Ghosh was brought in, but it was wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia who opened with Verma.
While Bhatia was out second over, Verma continued her impressive march at the senior level. It began with medium pacer Jahnara Alam going around the wicket straight away to her in the first over, allowing her room to free her arms and slap one with the wind to clear the deep cover fielder. She also cleared long-on off Salma Khatun in the next over, before cashing in even more on Alam's extra width, as she struggled to cope with Verma's vicious on-the-up hitting from both over and around the wicket.
She welcomed Panna Ghosh with a dominant straight six, first ball of the sixth over and was batting on 39 off 15 at that point. But a similar attempt two balls later came off the toe end and she was dismissed at mid-off, a catch taken off the second attempt. India were 54 for 2 at the end of the powerplay, their highest powerplay score in T20Is.
No Mandhana, but India have their best powerplay
Harmanpreet Kaur said at the toss that India had wanted to bat first and put up a decent score, a task that would be made slightly more difficult in the absence of opener Smriti Mandhana, who was out with a viral fever. In her place, 16-year-old Richa Ghosh was brought in, but it was wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia who opened with Verma.
While Bhatia was out second over, Verma continued her impressive march at the senior level. It began with medium pacer Jahnara Alam going around the wicket straight away to her in the first over, allowing her room to free her arms and slap one with the wind to clear the deep cover fielder. She also cleared long-on off Salma Khatun in the next over, before cashing in even more on Alam's extra width, as she struggled to cope with Verma's vicious on-the-up hitting from both over and around the wicket.
She welcomed Panna Ghosh with a dominant straight six, first ball of the sixth over and was batting on 39 off 15 at that point. But a similar attempt two balls later came off the toe end and she was dismissed at mid-off, a catch taken off the second attempt. India were 54 for 2 at the end of the powerplay, their highest powerplay score in T20Is.