Shafali, spinners keep India's semi-final hopes alive
It was however a far-from-clinical performance for India who dropped several chances in the field
It was however a far-from-clinical performance for India who dropped several chances in the field
Scorer: Harshith Gowda | Commentator: Abhijato and Ekanth
That's the first of the double-header done. We move to Bristol now for Netherlands vs South Africa. Coverage has begun, so hop on! Thanks for joining us here. Bye from me, Ekanth, on behalf of Abhijato, and our scorers, Harshith and Vairavan.
Harmanpreet Kaur, India captain: It's a good win. We thought we'd finish early, still finished 2-3 overs early which was good. We've worked on our fielding but we dropped catches. Hope we show the best next game. They're our best fielders, but sometimes it's like that. Just keep working, keep catching balls so you get into good positions. We've fumbled but hope to get out best next game. All set for Australia, one of our best oppositions. We know that these tournaments, when every game is must-win, you have to give your best. We'll get a lot of confidence if we win that. Last win in Navi Mumbai gave a lot of confidence and broke barriers.
Nigar Sultana, Bangladesh captain: We created a lot of chances but couldn't grab that, so India took the game away. We bowled well. We were 15-20 runs short. Got a good powerplay, couldn't carry on. (Message at 33 off 36) We thought anything can happen, so try to bowl in the right areas and take opportunities. Somehow, we lost momentum. It's not about success everytime, the way this unit is growing day by day, it's a success for me. Playing at Lord's will be good for the time, we hope to create memories there.
Shafali Verma, POTM: Very happy with the way I batted. Good confidence. Just tried to hit boundaries off bad balls, nothing different. Tried to choose the right ball to go big and take a single if not, which isn't as easy at times. Was sad I got out, would've been happier had I batted through. I used to bowl with new and old ball in the nets, I'm there to do whatever team needs. Thanks to Harman di for giving me good fields and confidence.
Sundar : "What happened to harmanprit since quite a longtime she is not hitting four/six. Even struggling to rotate the strike." She got a four but didn't look convincing.
5:41pm: Far from clinical but India bag two points. Bangladesh will rue lack of power with bat, and like India, sloppiness in the field. Dropping Shafali early in the first over was costly. India broke the back of the chase in the powerplay. Bangladesh made a comeback with spin in the middle overs. Ritu Moni was good too. That ensured India shuffling the batting order to get to the target quicker didn't work. Rodrigues was scratchy and got a life, ended a 23-ball boundary drought to get it back in India's favour with about five overs to go.
Shadow-Shell: "Guess Jemi borrowed the pitch from Shafali"
Around
Amit: "Silly question but do the number of wickets affect the final NRR after a team wins or loses? Or is it just the number of overs they completed the chase in?" Fair question, wickets don't matter from what I remember
They did what was needed to beat Bangladesh but major questions remain ahead of facing Australia at Lord's
It was however a far-from-clinical performance for India who dropped several chances in the field
While a loss wouldn't be tournament-ending, it will make qualifying much tougher
In Group 2, meanwhile, New Zealand and Sri Lanka are hoping for a West Indies defeat to Ireland
The Fulmali-vs-Bhatia conundrum, injuries to allrounders, and pacers' lack of returns haven't helped