Follow UsFour months after returning to international cricket, the Indian women's cricket team produced a dominant performance in their first game against Bangladesh at the Shere Bangla Stadium to go 1-0 up in the three-match T20I series.
After opting to field first, the spinners weaved their magic as they restricted the home team to 114 runs for the loss of five wickets in their quota of 20 overs.
In reply, India lost Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues early in the run chase. However, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur steadied the innings with a 70-run stand for the third wicket to help the team get inches close to the target.
While the southpaw was dismissed for 38 runs, the skipper ensured India got over the line in a commanding fashion.
"We were able to execute our plans. It was a great performance by our team," Harmanpreet said in the post-match presentation.
"I wanted to see how our bowlers were going to bowl in the first six overs. I think Deepti showed her experience, and Smriti showed her character today. With that batting line-up, you don't need to worry much. We wanted to finish with 4-5 overs left, and we managed to do that," she further added.
On the other hand, Nigar Sultana Joty was disappointed with the performance of the batting unit but believed the team would bounce back in the coming games.
"I think we were short by 20-25 runs on this kind of wicket. The bowlers bowled well, and I am looking forward to the next match. There were a lot of dot balls, and we would like to work on that," she concluded.
The two sides will lock horns in the second T20I on Tuesday, July 11, at the same venue.