India Women Win WT20I Series Against Hosts Bangladesh Women By Defending 95 Runs

India Women secured the away WT20I series against the hosts Bangladesh Women in an incredible style after winning the low-scoring second game of the three-match series by eight runs. Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma played heroic roles to settle a memorable victory for the country.   

India Women: 95/8 in 20 overs

Leading the series by 1-0, the visitors India Women chose to bat first after winning the toss in the second game of the series at Mirpur. Although the Indian openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma provided a fine start with a 33-run opening partnership, they were restricted to 95/8 in 20 overs.

While Mandhana scored 13 and Verma scored the highest runs in the innings with 19 runs, lower-order Amanjot Kaur managed the second-highest score in the innings with 14 runs.

Among the Bangladesh bowlers, Sultana Khatun (3/21) and Fahima Khatun (2/16) were stars, while the other bowlers also supported strongly.

Bangladesh Women: 87 all out in 20 overs; Shafali Verma was the star in the final over

However, the Indian bowlers were too strong as Bangladesh Women couldn’t settle a series-levelling win. Among the home batters, only the skipper Nigar Sultana managed to reach the double-digit figures, while the extras were the second-highest scorer in the innings with 18 runs (including 15 wides).

Despite no real scoreboard-moving support from the other end, Nigar battled hard and almost guided to a memorable win with her 38 runs off 55 balls (two fours). When the skipper was dismissed, Bangladesh Women had to score 10 more runs in seven balls and four wickets were still remaining.

In the final over of the match, the 19-year-old off-spinner Shafali Verma conceded only one run for four wickets, including one run-out. She finished the game with the bowling figures of 3-0-15-3.

Meanwhile, the Player of the Match Deepti Sharma, who also scored 10 runs, had the bowling figures of 4-0-12-3, including dismissing the captain Nigar.

The 24-year-old off-spinner Minnu Mani, who made her Women’s international debut during this series opener, also had effective bowling figures of 4-1-9-2.

India Women’s joint second-lowest successful WT20I defending total

It was the joint second-lowest successful WT20I defending total for the Indian Women (only counted full 20-over matches). Their lowest record in this list is 81 runs against Pakistan Women during the Final of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup 2012.

India Women’s lowest successful defending totals in WT20Is (only full 20-over matches)

(Updated till 11 June 2023)