Mirpur [Bangladesh], July 9 : India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur heaped praise on young bowlers for their exceptional efforts with the ball in their 7-wicket victory against Bangladesh on Sunday in the first T20I match at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.
Shafali Verma, Pooja Vastrakar and Minnu Mani outclassed the hosts to restrict them to a total of 114. The Indian skipper acknowledged their efforts and said in the post-match presentation as quoted by ESPNcricinfo, "It was a great team effort. The bowlers, especially the young girls, bowled really well. I wanted to see how they are going to bowl in the first six overs, I think both of them understood the conditions very early. Apart from them, Deepti too bowled well. She has an experienced bowler and she showed that today."
In the second innings, Harmanpreet's classic captain's knock of 54(35)* maintained India's control but Smriti Mandhana also supported her skipper on the other end and ended up as the unsung hero of the match.
Harmanpreet went on to point out Mandhana for her efforts with the bat and said, "She is always ready to give her 100% for the team and she showed her character today as well. When you have batters like Smriti and Shafali, you need not worry too much. We wanted to finish four-five overs early and I am really happy we were able to do that."
While coming to the match, India skipper Harmanpreet's unbeaten half-century and Smriti Mandhana's 38 guided India to a comfortable 7-wicket victory in the first T20I match against Bangladesh.
India stumbled twice in the powerplay while chasing a low total of 115. Shafali Verma was the first batter to fall as Marufa Akter trapped the young batter right in front of the stumps on her third delivery of the very first over of the second innings.
But Mandhana and Harmanpreet took charge and chopped off 70 runs from the target to ensure India's victory.
India will play the second T20I on Tuesday.
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