Harmanpreet, Mandhana guide India 7-wicket victory against Bangladesh

India skipper Harmanpreet’s unbeaten half-century and Smriti Mandhana’s 38 guided India to a comfortable 7-wicket victory in the first T20I match against Bangladesh. India stumbled twice in the powerplay while chasing a low total of 115. Shafali Verma was the first batter to fall as Marufa Akter trapped the young batter right in front of the stumps on her third delivery of the very first over of the second innings. Mandhana tried to cover the early loss as she found the fence on the first delivery of the second over. Jemimah Rodrigues joined the party with two elegant shots in the Marufa’s second over. With each delivery, Rodrigues looked more comfortable and better suited to the conditions of the pitch, Sultana Khatun orchestrated her downfall. Khatun deceived Rodrigues with the lack of pace, her decision to play a cut shot was the ideal choice according to the length of the delivery but, Rodrigues’s failure to judge the pace made her play the shot early. The ball found a thick bottom edge and it went on to crash right into the stumps. From that point, Mandhana and Harmanpreet took charge and chopped off 70 runs from the target to give India full control of the game. Khatun struck once again by sending Mandhana back to the pavilion for a score of 38. However, by this point, the game was well away from the hosts. Harmanpreet went on to score a half-century while Yastika Bhatia held on to the other end. India registered a comfortable delivery with 3.4 overs to spare.