India
Rabeya Khan picked three wickets•BCB
Smriti Mandhana fell early when she found a thick inside edge onto the legstump, in the third over, trying to be aggressive. Shafali started well, scoring three fours and a six in her 22-ball 31 before falling to Rabeya in the ninth over when she tried to play across the line and found the top edge.
Yastika and Harmanpreet then stabilised the innings in the middle overs, providing the foundation for a big finish. Yastika, slotted in at No.3 in place of the injured Jemimah Rodrigues, played a few neat cover drives along the ground, shuffled across and swept past the short fine leg fielder to find boundaries and looked set to take off. In her 28-ball innings, she hit six fours and stitched two crucial partnerships – firstly, 43 off 31 with Shafali for the second wicket and then 45 off 33 with Harmanpreet.
However, Bangladesh fought back with the wickets of Harmanpreet and Yastika in consecutive overs to derail India. Harmanpreet was trapped lbw for 30 off legspinner Fahima Khatun in the 14th over and Yastika found the point fielder after she mistimed a heave off Rabeya.
Debutant S Sajana was promoted to No.6 and with Ghosh at the other end, India expected some fireworks. However, that didn’t happen. Sajana’s stay was short-lived as she was dismissed for a run-a-ball 11 and Ghosh, after notching up two fours and a six, fell to Marufa Akther’s pace in the final over. Marufa converted it into a double-wicket over, removing Vastrakar off the last ball and conceding just two runs from the over.
Bangladesh put on a mixed fielding display, dropping three catches off Shafali, Mandhana and Sajana but also showed excellent effort to save a few boundaries near the rope.
Srinidhi Ramanujam is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo