BAN vs IND 3rd ODI: Losing five quick wickets for just 34 runs on the board resulted in India’s incapability to score past 225. With Smriti Mandhana and Harleen Deol’s outstanding knocks not paying the expected results, India and Bangladesh now share the ODI trophy. Harleen Deol was awarded the Player of the Match.
Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat first with Fargana Hoque and Shamima Sultana walking down on the ground to steer the innings straight. Amanjot Kaur ran in from over the wicket to Shamima with the new ball. The first over brought a single for Shamima helping her get off the mark.
After some smooth running between the wickets, Shamima clinched her first boundary of the match on the fourth ball of the fifth over and a second on the concluding ball of the same over. A fine array of singles was going well for the Bangladesh innings until Deepti Sharma bowled a maiden ninth over.
In the fourteenth over where Shamima struggled to push any ball for a single for the first five balls, heaved the sixth ball outside off for a fantastic four followed by another in the following over. After fifteen overs, Bangladesh were 54 for no loss and India was still trying to get a breakthrough.
Although there was no loss of wicket until this time of the innings, but Bangladesh looked struggling to score big against the Indian bowling attack. But Shamima, despite the lower run rate, tried to push the scoreboard to some higher cliff with timely boundaries, one of which came on the last ball of the seventeenth over.
The twenty-sixth over witnessed the first boundary for Fargana along with the single on the last ball that brought the half-century for Shamima. A majestically played innings with much composure and clarity. But finally, Sneh Rana got the breakthrough for her team as Shamima walked back to the pavilion at 52 off 78 balls.
READ MORE: BAN vs IND: Bangladesh Register Historic First ODI Win Against India
And in the twenty-ninth over, Nigar Sultana’s boundary brought 100 for Bangladesh. By this time, Fargana was all set with around 90 balls to her account and in the thirty-second over, she clinched her half-century too with a powerfully smashed boundary. Bangladesh now tried to push the run-rate a bit higher but eventually Deepti again stroked back with a beautiful maiden thirty-fifth over.
After much wait, Fargana caressed the fourth ball of the thirty-ninth over for a beautiful boundary to the left of mid-off but this gradually moving partnership was broken through again in the forty-first over bowled by Rana as Nigar departed at 24 off 36 balls.
Next down, Ritu Moni saw a successive departure in the forty-second over minutes after Nigar’s dismissal. On the other end, Fargana was trudging closer to her century with two back-to-back fours in the forty-fifth over and the final one of her innings on the last ball of the forty-eighth over to get to her first-ever century along with becoming the first ODI centurion-for Bangladesh, before finally setting back to the pavilion on the last ball of the innings at 107 off 160 balls.
India needed 226 runs in total in 50 overs to clinch the series to their name. Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma were again on the stage to steer yet another chase, this time not seemingly a difficult one.
The first over brought a leg-bye boundary by Mandhana followed by Verma’s first and the only boundary of the match on the fourth ball of the second over as she met her early dismissal in the same over as Marufa Akter stroked harshly.
Mandhana made the Bangladesh bowling attack feel not-so-confident as she came up with a couple of boundaries following Verma’s dismissal in order to keep the scoreboard moving but that could not last longer as Yastika Bhatia met her LBW in the fifth over to depart at just 5 off 7 balls.
Harleen Deol kicked her innings off on a thundering note with two boundaries in the sixth over followed by Mandhana’s similar two in the ninth over. Mandhana looked all set to chase the target down much earlier than the stipulated overs. India’s scoreboard read 59 for the loss of 2 after the end of the powerplay.
Mandhana and Deol kept things simple but steady and somewhat swift with incessant running between the wickets and a couple of timely fours from both the batters that pushed the run rate in accordance with the asking rate. In twenty overs, the Indian innings surpassed the 100-run mark.
READ MORE: BAN vs IND 2nd ODI: Jemimah Rodrigues Star As India Register A Convincing Win
It was in the twenty-fifth over that Mandhana added one more half-century to her account with a solemn single, brilliantly amassing 50 off 74 balls. On the other hand, Deol too got up to her second half-century of her career with a single on the first ball of the twenty-eighth over followed by a fantastic boundary that summed up the 100-run stand between the two.
Although she got a life on the very first ball of the twenty-ninth over and Fahima dropped her catch but just a ball later, Mandhana finally met her dismissal at 59 off 85 balls. Fresh down Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur started her innings with a hammering boundary in the thirtieth over followed by an edged four in the thirty-second over.
Kaur too could not last long although she looked in good touch as she had to depart for the pavilion at just 14 off 21 balls as Nahida Akter stoked back. Incessant running between the wickets with back-to-back rotation of strikes between Jemimah Rodrigues and Deol kept the scoreboard active until the chase saw a break due to the downpour.
As the covers got off the ground, India resumed the chase with Deol banging with a firm smash over deep square leg for a boundary which also brought her run-out in the following over thus unfortunately costing another wicket for the Indian dugout. More was kept in the fate of the chase as Deepti too suffered a run-out in the same forty-second over.
Although everything was still going well for India with the required run rate still in range as Amanjot Kaur and Jemimah continued to steal singles and a couple of doubles until the Indian chase saw a drastically quick fall of wickets.
The first in the queue was Amanjot Kaur getting her LBW on the last ball of the forty-seventh over followed by two golden ducks, Sneh Rana and Devika Vaidya, both caught and bowled by the game-changer Nahida Akter in the forty-eighth over. Although Meghana Singh somewhat brought her team into the game with a powerfully hit boundary but finally collapsed on the third ball thus concluding the Indian chase at 225 resulting in a tie.
Click Here to get the latest news related to women’s cricket. You can also check about Match predictions here. like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more updates.
