In their second Twenty20 match against Bangladesh, India appeared to be heading for a humiliating loss after the first over of the second innings.
Choosing to bat first, captain Harmanpreet Kaur stated that a 150-plus score was the goal while leading an unchanged lineup from their blowout seven-wicket victory on Tuesday. However, once the host team tried its hand at spin, India came out at a pitiful 95-8, with Pooja Vastrakar’s maiden over going for just 10.
Bangladesh suffered an eight-run loss, giving India the series victory. However, a spin choke-hold of their own, thanks to veteran Deepti Sharma, rookies Minnu Mani and Anusha Bareddy, and part-timer Shafali Verma, was ultimately enough to salvage face.
India entered the batting order with the confidence that their last resounding victory was sure to inspire. Verma hammered three consecutive inswingers off Marufa Akter for boundaries, helping India to a commanding 29-0 after the first four overs. After that, the spin-squeeze was used by Nahida Akter, Sultana Khatun, and Fahima Khatun, leaving India 51-4 in their innings.
In an effort to extend the innings, Jemimah Rodrigues and Harleen Deol made damage control efforts. However, after switching up their strikes and going on the defense (there were no boundaries between the sixth and thirteenth overs), both were to depart with single-digit totals.
Questions over India’s lack of batting depth are anticipated to become more prominent ahead of certain major assignments, such as home series against South Africa, England, and Australia as well as the Asian Games. They have match -winning batswomen in their top order, but the middle order is seriously lacking a finisher and has flaws in it.
In an effort to discover the best lineups before the next major series, India has chosen to omit lower-order bats such as Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil, and Sneh Rana in favor of the all-around skills of Amanjot Kaur and Vastrakar. Sending the latter to bat at nine did not improve their situation even then.
Indian players during a T20 cricket match against Bangladesh
Indian team filling up the gaps
Both the shortage of depth in the fast-bowling unit and the middle order’s lack of stability are concerning, particularly in light of Renuka Singh’s injury-related absence. However, the opposite cannot be said of their spinners, who stifled control of this game back, a pleasing trend given that their upcoming significant tasks are probably going to be at home in spin-friendly conditions.
Mani is one of the standouts in her debut series. She struck to stop Bangladesh’s momentum in the second over and added another in the penultimate over. After eight overs, Mani, Bareddy, and Deepti reduced Bangladesh’s top order to a dismal 41-4. When Nigar Sultana struggled to take the game deep for the second straight match, Harmanpreet turned to her part-time spin alternatives and abandoned her quick bowling strategy.
Despite Sultana’s brave 55-ball 38, which she ended when she mistimed a heave down the course off Deepti and was eventually stumped, she played spin well. After that, India’s victory was all but certain because Varma took all three of her wickets in the last over.
After their sad loss on Tuesday, Bangladesh fought valiantly, especially on the pitch. But given the quality gap, this series loss is expected. India will try to close some gaps with a three-match ODI series against them coming up later this month as they prepare for a challenging 2024.
