Shafali turns it on!

Shafali Verma (5th from left) is all smiles after India’s win yesterday. Pic/Shafali Verma’s Twitter handle

Spinners Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma held their nerves during death overs as India pulled off a nail-biting eight-run victory over Bangladesh to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series, here on Wednesday.

Off-spinner Sultana Khatun claimed a career-best 3/21 as the hosts grounded a star-studded India to a below-par 95 for 8, their lowest-ever total against Bangladesh in women's T20I.

However Bangladesh stumbled to 87 all-out in 20 overs as India took a series-clinching lead with an inconsequential third match set to be played on Thursday.

Bangladesh collapse

From a comfortable 86 for 5, Bangladesh lost their last five wickets for just one run in a space of eight deliveries in what seemed to be an inexplicable batting collapse.

The two young Indian spinners - offie Minnu Mani (2-9) and left-arm orthodox Anusha Bareddy (1-20 in 4 overs) made early inroads before the seasoned duo of Deepti (3-12) and Shafali (3-15) pulled off a heist with controlled bowling in the 19th and 20th over.

Also Read: IND W vs BAN W 2nd T20I Highlights: Spinners shine as India clinch series with 8-run win over Bangladesh

Shafali, in fact, got all her wickets in the final over in which she gave away only a solitary run when 10 were needed with four wickets intact.

Bangladesh's chase was steered by skipper Nigar Sultana (38 off 55 balls) - the only batter of their side to reach double-digits.
But the skipper failed to finish it off and was brilliantly stumped by Yastika Bhatia in the penultimate over bowled by Deepti that triggered the collapse. "Bowlers did well to restrict India. I should have ended the game. I think we didn't get the start we want. Looking forward to the last game," the home team skipper said after the game.

Skipper Kaur backs youth

However credit should be given to skipper Harmanpreet as she has shown a lot of faith in giving full quota of overs to both Minnu and Anusha, who were equal to the task.

"In this series we have a couple of young bowlers who are going to take responsibility and bowl for us. Important for us to trust them. We are not going to hide them in the field," Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation.

Brief scores
India 95-8 in 20 overs (S Verma 19; S Khatun 3-21, F Khatun 2-16) beat Bangladesh 87 in 20 overs (N Sultana 38; D Sharma 3-12, S Verma 3-15, M Mani 2-9) by 8 runs

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