By Shafali Verma would like to make an impact with the willow after a poor start in the lung-opener as India aims to clinch the three-match T20 International series against Bangladesh with another dominant performance in the second game in Mirpur on Tuesday.
India coasted to an easy seven-wicket victory in the opening match on Sunday with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur blazing her way to an unbeaten 35-ball 54 and Smriti Mandhana looking equally dangerous during her short but significant knock of 38.
The slow bowlers were also on target as the two debutants Anusha Bareddy and Minnu Mani gave a good account of themselves under senior off-spinner Deepti Sharma.
However, what stuck out like a sore thumb was Shafali’s three-ball duck and once again the lack of footwork was evident against medium pacer Marufa Akter.
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The young Haryana woman is one of the biggest batting talents in the country and has already played 57 T20I games even before completing her 20th birthday.
Her last half-century in T20Is came last year against Australian women during a home series and since then had a quiet World Cup in South Africa.
What has worked to India’s advantage is the fact that all of Bangladesh’s top seven batters are right-handers and that has allowed the Indian skipper to stick to one particular line on a Sher-e-Bangla track where the ball at times stops before coming onto the bat.
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Harmanpreet’s clever ploy of loading the off-side cordon with five fielders worked wonderfully well as the Bangladeshi batters were often seen trying to fetch the deliveries pitched on the imaginary fourth or fifth off-stump and hit them through the vacant on-side.
But Deepti, Anusha and Minu did maintain a tight line, which didn’t allow them to manoeuvre much.
It was a good toss to win for Harmanpreet during the opening game and if the spin of the coin goes in her favour once again, she might see how well the batting unit performs while trying to set a target.
This will also give Shafali a chance to express herself freely in Mandhana and Harmanpreet’s company and give the glimpse of a player that everyone wants to pay to watch.
The Teams (From): India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Shefali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol, Devika Vaidya, Uma Chhetri (wk), Amanjot Kaur, S Meghna, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Anjali Sarwani , Monika Patel, Rashi Kanojia, Anusha Bareddi, Minnu Mani.
Bangladesh: Nigar Sultana (c/w), Shamima Sultana, Murshida Khatun, Sobhana Mostary, Shorna Akter, Ritu Moni, Nahida Akter, Fahima Khatun, Rabeya Khan, Shanjida Akter, Salma Khatun, Marufa Akter, Dilara Akter, Disha Biswas, Sultana Khatun, Shathi Rani.
Match Starts: 1:30 pm IST.
