Bangladesh Women’s team is on the brink of history as they need one more victory to clinch their first ever ODI series victory against India.
In a bid to fulfill that aspiration, they will face off the mighty neighbor in the second ODI tomorrow (Wednesday) at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Bangladesh lead the series 1-0 following its 40-run victory under DLS method in the first ODI, which was their first ever victory against India in this format.
“We have got the taste of beating India for the first time in an ODI. Earlier we won T20s against them. The victory also came in Mirpur. I think the victory is the part of history. We would like to carve our own niche and create a little more history,” Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana Joty said.
“It’s really pleasing to win an ODI after a long time. I think its’ a landmark achievement for the team and for our country. Definitely the victory will boost us to play much better in the future.”
The first match was reduced to 44-over after rain intervention and Bangladesh could total only 152 before being all out in 43 overs. But a bowling variation helped them defend that paltry, as they bowled India out for just 113 in 35.5 overs.
Pacer Marufa Akter was the wrecker-in-chief, registering her career-best 4-29, which ripped through India’s world class batting line up.
“After putting total on the board, that looked not so daunting we want to take early wickets. Taking early wickets always give the edge. We knew they mostly rely on their batting department. The coach told us that we should look for wickets in the Powerplay. We want to put them under pressure,” Joty said. ”
“Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur are their key batters. When we got them out, the rest of their batters couldn’t quite do the job.”
Joty also praised Marufa’s bowling effort and expected that she would continue to wreck havoc on Indian batting line up.
“Marufa has been tremendous for sometimes now. She bowled well both with new ball and old ball. She doesn’t think about her bowling too much and didn’t do anything extra. She wants to bowl to the team’s requirement. She backs her own strength. It helps us. Batters have struggled against her natural inswing with the new ball,” she remarked.
But Bangladesh coach Hashan Tillakaratne emphasized on rectifying their batting errors, saying that they couldn’t afford the same kind of mistakes in every match, specially against an opponent like India.
“Anything over a 200 would give you the opportunity and so we are looking for that because the wicket was keeping low. It’s not that the wicket was unplayable. The wicket played really well. Unfortunately, our batters faltered and were short by 50-60 runs,” Tillakaratne said.
“I think there are a few loose ends that we need to tighten up before the second one. So, we’ll have a discussion ahead of the second game, and we’ll come back strongly for the second and third one.”(BSS)
