India edge Bangladesh in spin fest to take T20 series

A spin choke-hold of their own, courtesy veteran Deepti Sharma, newbies Minnu Mani and Anusha Bareddy and part-timer Shafali Verma was eventually enough to save face as Bangladesh succumbed to an eight-run defeat to hand India a series win.

India came out to bat with the confidence that their dominant previous win was likely to instill. Verma smashed Marufa Akter’s in-swingers for three consecutive boundaries and India reached a solid 29-0 after the first four overs. After that, Nahida Akter, Sultana Khatun and Fahima Khatun applied the spin-squeeze to leave India 51-4 midway through their innings.

Jemimah Rodrigues and Harleen Deol attempted damage control, trying to take the innings deep. But after rotating strike and being on the defensive – there were no boundaries between the sixth and 13^th overs – both would depart with single-digit scores.

Ahead of some huge assignments, including home series’ against South Africa, England, and Australia, as well as the Asian Games, questions around India’s lack of depth in batting are likely to get louder. Batswomen with match-winning abilities are present in their top order, but there are holes in the middle, and a serious lack of a finisher.

India have left out lower-order hitters like Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil and Sneh Rana as they try to find the right combinations ahead of the next big series, opting for the all-round abilities of Amanjot Kaur and Vastrakar. Even then, sending the latter to bat at nine did not help their cause.

Holes to be plugged

The lack of solidity in the middle order is just as problematic as the lack of depth in the fast-bowling unit, especially in the injury-induced absence of Renuka Singh. But the same cannot be said of their spinners, who strangled control of this match back, a welcome development considering their next big assignments are likely to be in spin-friendly home conditions.

Mani, in her debut series, is one of the standouts. She struck in the second over to stall Bangladesh’s momentum, and picked up another in her final over. Mani, alongside Bareddy and Deepti, suffocated Bangladesh’s top order to a poor 41-4 after eight overs. For the second match in a row, Harmanpreet looked to part-time spin options and did not persist with fast bowling even as her counterpart Nigar Sultana got stuck in trying to take the match deep.

Sultana played spin smartly, but her defiant 55-ball 38 came to an end when she mistimed a heave down the track off Deepti and got herself stumped. From there on, a win for India was hardly in doubt, as Varma picked up all three of her wickets in the final over.

Bangladesh put up a spirited fight after Tuesday’s disappointing defeat, especially in the field. But this series loss, given the chasm in talent, is unsurprising. With a three-ODI series against them later this month too, India will look to plug some holes as they have one eye on a difficult remaining 2023.