ICC T20 World Cup: Shafali, Yadav shines as India pins down Bangladesh

Perth, February 25: India has taken one step closer to the semi-finals (ICC T20 World Cup) as they showed a class performance with veteran Poonam Yadav and the new kid Shafali Verma yet again proving their worth in a comfortable win over Bangladesh by 18 runs here on Monday.

 

After Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first, Verma (39 off 17 balls) displayed her fearless batting scoring sixes and fours while opening the innings. Jemimah Rodrigues (34 off 37 balls) giving a solid start and Veda Krishnamurthy (20 off 11balls) playing a much-needed cameo in the last few overs helped India to set a target of 143 runs for Bangladesh.

 

 

However, Deepti Sharma had not played well with the bowl as she had conceded three boundaries which gave momentum to the opponents. But it did not last long as Yadav and Shikha Pandey were back with their typical bowling which gave India the wickets frequently and Arundhati Reddy striking back with her bowling and taking two wickets. Yadav and Pandey have now seven and five wickets in their two outings respectively.

 

The concern for India that Smriti Mandana was out of the game due to viral fever. However, with young talent in India's kit, they have played with discipline and confidence. And the way the skipper Harmanpreet Singh had led the game it seems like India losing or winning the toss will not matter much in their further games.

 

The skipper Harmanpreet Singh after winning said about the key point here is to not taking pressure and looking at one game at a time. "The way Shafali and Richa played today, they showed how capable they are for the team. Veda's innings was turning point. We needed boundaries at that point and she did a great job. Look at one game at a time. Looking forward to doing well in the future also. Hopefully, Mandhana will be ready for New Zealand. She's feeling better now."

 

Taking the responsibility on herself as Mandhana was not around in the match, she said, "Since Mandhana wasn't around, I wanted to take the responsibility to stay around and give India a good start. I've been practicing hitting the ball hard and I would like to bring the team more success in the future. I'd like to continue doing this, help India win matches and ultimately win us the World Cup." India will next go to Melbourne to play against New Zealand on Thursday.

 

Brief scores: India 142/6 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 39, Jemimah Rodrigues 34; Salma Khatun 2-25, Panna Ghosh 2-25) beat Bangladesh 124/8 in 20 overs (Nigar Sultana 35, Murshida Khan 30; Poonam Yadav 3-18, Shikha Pandey 2-14) by 18 runs.