Yastika, Renuka Thakur star in India’s 44-run win over Bangladesh in T20I series opener

Riding on Yastika Bhatia’s 36 and Renuka Singh Thakur’s 3-18, India defeated Bangladesh by 44 runs in the opening game of the five-match T20I series at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium here on Sunday.

Electing to bat first, Yastika, Shafali Verma (31) and captain Harmanpreet Kaur (30) crossed 30s. But after Harmanpreet fell, Bangladesh pulled things back to keep India at 145/7. In reply, Bangladesh lost four wickets quickly and eventually made 101/8 in their 20 overs.

Apart from Renuka, fast-bowler Pooja Vastrakar took 2-25 while Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav and Deepti Sharma took a wicket each in a tight bowling show to ensure India now have a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, crucial from a T20 World Cup preparation point of view.

Bangladesh didn’t get an ideal start to their chase as Renuka found inward movement to trap Dilara Akter lbw and then castled Sobhana Mostary with seam movement. Deepti and Pooja joined the wicket-takers party by trapping Murshida Khatun and Fahima Khatun lbw respectively.

Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana slammed five fours and a six in her 48-ball knock, also her seventh T20I fifty. Her knock was crucial in taking Bangladesh past 100 before she was cast by Pooja in the final over. But she found very little help from the other end as her teammates fell without leaving a mark, as Bangladesh’s batting issues resurfaced after coming to the fore in their previous home series against Australia.

Earlier, good knocks by Yastika, Shafali and Harmanpreet ensured India got a decent total on a slow pitch. India’s innings began with Shafali and Smriti Mandhana hitting four boundaries between themselves in the first two overs. But Smriti, who got a reprieve in the second over, couldn’t capitalise on it and inside-edged onto her stumps off Fariha Trisna.

Shafali took out the pressure with a six off Sultana Khatun over long-on and was even given a reprieve on the last ball of Power-play off Marufa Akter. Yastika was elegant in sweeping Nahida Akter twice and lofting a drive off Sultana Khatun to collect boundaries quickly.

But Shafali fell for 31 off 22 balls after closing her bat-face too early and the leading edge was caught by cover off Rabeya. Harmanpreet was delightful with her whips and cuts while Yastika continued to be good at sweeping spinners for fours.

The 45-run stand came to an end when Harmanpreet went for a sweep off Fahima and was trapped lbw. In the next over, Yastika tried to go over off-side but gave a leading edge to short third.

Debutante all-rounder Sajeevan Sajana made run-a-ball 11 before falling to Rabeya, while Richa Ghosh hit two fours and a six in her 17-ball 23, before holing out to long-on off Marufa in the final over. Marufa then had Pooja caught at long-on on the last ball of the innings to keep India five runs short of 150.

Brief scores:

India 145/7 in 20 overs (Yastika Bhatia 36, Shafali Verma 31; Rabeya Khan 3-23, Marufa Akter 2-13) beat Bangladesh 101/8 in 20 overs (Nigar Sultana 51; Renuka Singh Thakur 3-18, Pooja Vastrakar 2-25) by 44 runs.