Bangladesh notched a consolation win against India on Thursday after winning the third and final T20I match by four wickets in Mirpur. India had won the series after winning the first and second T20Is but succumbed to their third T20I loss to Bangladesh.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bat. It was a low-scoring affair with the Bangladesh bowlers restricting the visitors to 102/9 on the back of a solid 45-run partnership between Harmanpreet (40 in 41 balls) and Jemimah Rodrigues (28 off 26 balls) for the third wicket. Rabeya Khan finished with 3/16 in four overs, including two crucial wickets in the final over with Sultana Khatun dismissing the India openers early on and finishing with figures of 2/17 in four overs.
In reply, Bangladesh remained steady despite the early loss of opener Shathi Rani and Dilara Akter courtesy Minnu Mani. But captain Nigar Sultana and opener Shamima Sultana, who top scored with 42 off 46 balls including three boundaries, steadied the ship for the hosts with a 46-run partnership before Nahida Akter hit 10 in 6 balls to close out the win in 18.2 overs. Minnu Mani and Devika Vaidya both took two wickets each while Jemimah finished with figures of 1/9 in two overs.
India brought in debutant Rashi Kanojiya and Devika Vaidya for Anusha Bareddy and Harleen Deol while Bangladesh swapped Sobhana Mostery, who was concussed in the previous game, for Dilara Akter.
It was a tentative start for the India openers in Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma who couldn’t get started and were quickly dismissed within the powerplay by Sultana in successive overs. The visitors once again had to rely on their captain in Harmanpreet and Jemimah who took their time, rotating the strike and putting the odd bad ball away for a boundary, as they built a steady partnership for the third wicket.
Bangladesh though managed to get the breakthrough when captain Nigar stumped Jemimah off Shorna Akter with quick hands. Wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia then joined her captain, trying to build on the momentum from the previous partnership and managed 12 off 17 balls, before the hosts triggered another India batting collapse that started with Fahima Khatun dismissing Harmanpreet for 40 in the 17th over. Rabeya caught Yastika lbw before completing the India innings with the wickets of Deepti Sharma and Minnu in the last over as India managed 102/9 in 20 overs, seven runs more than their total in the second T20I.
Bangladesh were rattled at the start with the early losses of Shathi and Dilara in consecutive Minnu overs, before captain Nigar and Shamima stabilised the run chase through their own third wicket partnership worth 46 runs. There was a slight stutter in the Bangladesh innings when Nigar was caught behind by Yastika off Vaidya’s bowling and Shorna holed out to Pooja Vastrakar, who was playing her 50th T20I match, off Jemimah. Shamima herself then was run-out in a combination effort between Minnu and Yastika in the 17th over to leave Bangladesh needing 15 in three overs. But debutant Kanojiya had an expensive final over in her spell - conceding 13 runs, including a no-ball as Nahida and Ritu Moni finished the game with 10 balls remaining.
For her batting efforts, Shamima was named the Player of the Match while India captain Harmanpreet was adjudged the Player of the Series for her 94 runs in three matches.
The tour now moves into the One Day International series starting on July 16, Sunday with three ODIs to be played at the same venue.
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