Sylhet: 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.
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) . IANS
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