Harmanpreet leads from the front as India eves beat Bangladesh by 5 wickets in 1st ODI
FILE PHOTO: Harmanpreet Kaur
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur led from the front with an unbeaten half-century as India eves put it across Bangladesh by five wickets in the first one-dayer at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad on Monday.
Harmanpreet walked out to bat with India in a spot of bother at 37 for 2 in the 13th over. The talented youngster rebuilt the innings after the Indian top three returned to the pavilion with India wobbling at 64 for 3 in in the 23rd over.
Harmanpreet joined forces with wicketkeeper Anagha Deshpande as the pair raised a handy 83-run stand for the third wicket. Just when it looked as if the duo would finish off the match, Jahanara Alam trapped Anagha Deshpande in front for a well made 50-ball 47 containing five fours with India at 147 for 4 in the 39th over.
The Indian captain received good support from Swagatika Rath as they added 31 runs for the fifth wicket. Nagarajan Niranjana belted two boundaries at the death to hasten the end as India romped home with four balls to spare.
Harmanpreet was left unconquered on 63, which came off 100 deliveries and contained three fours.
Earlier, with India set 195 for victory, Jahanara Alam gave Bangladesh early surge, trapping Poonam Raut for a duck. Thirush Kamini and Mona Meshram tried to stabilize the innings, but Salma Khatun kept her side in the contest, dismissing Mona Meshram for 22.
India further slipped into trouble when Thirush Kamini was run out for 23 but the Harmanpreet-Anagha combo took the game away from Bangladesh.
Earlier in the day, batting first, Bangladesh openers Shukhtara Rahman and Ayesha Akhter were pegged back by the Indian seam duo of Nagarajan Niranjana and Shubhalakshmi Sharma, who kept things tight with some disciplined bowling.
Shukhtara did not waste too many balls but was run out for 12 at the team’s score on 21. Shubhalakshmi pushed Bangladesh on the backfoot, nipping out Ayesha for 8 to reduce the visitors to 27 for 2 in the eight over.
Rumana Ahmed and Lata Mondal steadied the innings with a half-century stand to keep Bangladesh’s hopes of putting a decent score alive. Shubhalakshmi nullified all such plans by showing the pavilion way to Lata Mondal for 39 which came off 72 balls, studded with two fours.
Bangladesh captain Salma Khatun joined Rumana Ahmed and the pair seemed to pacing the innings nicely when medium-pacer Nagarajan Niranjana got rid of Rumana Ahmed for 38, which came off 63 balls and was packed with five hits to the fence.
The fall of Rumana’s wicket unsettled the Bangladesh innings. Salma Khatun kept one end going with runs flowing from her blade, but she lacked support from the other end as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals.
The Bangladesh middle-order came a cropper as Salma Khatun soon brought up her half-century.
Left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht dried up the runs from her end, bowling an incisive spell. She bagged the wickets of Shahanaz Parvin, Panna Ghosh and Jahanara Alam to finish with returns of 3 for 27.
Salma provided the lusty hits at the death, remaining unconquered on 75 off 82 balls, containing 11 fours as Bangladesh were restricted to 194 for 9 off their allotted 50 overs.
With this win, Indian women have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.