Rodrigues sets career highs with bat and ball as Bangladesh succumbs to defeat with a 7-for-14 collapse.
Bangladesh won by 108 runs (Fargana 47, Rodrigues 4-3, Vaidya 3-30).
Jemimah Rodrigues smashed a quick 86 and then took four wickets in 3.1 overs—both career highs for her with bat and ball—to help India beat Bangladesh by 108 runs in sunny Mirpur on Wednesday. India has thus leveled the three-match series at 1-1, with the series decider scheduled for Saturday.
In stark contrast to the rain-soaked first game, Rodrigues and Devika Vaidya spun a web to precipitate Bangladesh’s spectacular collapse; they moved from 106 for 3 to 120 all out in a period of 38 balls. Vaidya concluded her eight overs with figures of 3 for 30.
Earlier, Harmanpreet Kaur’s calculated fifty, combined with Rodrigues’ effortless knock, helped India post a competitive 228 for 8 after being sent in. Harmanpreet had to leave the game in the 37th over due to an injury to her left wrist while completing a single. She left the field having faced 80 balls for 48 runs before returning in the 47th over to finish on 52. Smriti Mandhana took over as captain when Harmanpreet Singh did not take the field at the start of Bangladesh’s innings.
Seven wickets for 14 runs: Bangladesh’s big collapse
Bangladesh required 126 runs from 132 balls with seven wickets in hand at the end of 28 overs, and they had two set-batters keeping the scoreboard ticking. Fargana Hoque had already played 79 deliveries for 46 runs, and Ritu Moni had 25 off 38 balls. After Bangladesh were left reeling at 14 for 2, the pair had already done a repair job, with Meghna Singh and Deepti Sharma each getting a wicket early in the chase.
Vaidya was then thrown the ball by Mandhana. The bowling change succeeded, as the legspinner dismissed Fargana with a turn and bounce on the penultimate delivery of the 29th over. Yastika Bhatia, who was quick to remove the bails when Fargana stepped out to a ball that spun away, assisted. Mandhana then made a double bowling change, sending the ball to Rodrigues, the part-time offspinner (with a total of one wicket in ODIs at the time). When Bhatia dislodged the bails again to dismiss a charging Moni, she had her second ODI wicket in her very first over of the day.
Vaidya got her second wicket in the next over, with Bhatia again stumping legspinner Rabeya Khan, and the slide was well and truly on. Rodrigues, who maintained pitching the ball full, got two to turn in sharply two overs later, sending Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana and Nahida Akter back in the same over. Bangladesh were all but done at 114 for 8.
Rodrigues and Harmanpreet lift India
The second ODI was played on a spin-friendly surface with some difficult bounce, as opposed to the first match, which was played in overcast conditions and saw India knocked out for 113.
India still had to work hard for runs, but Rodrigues and Harmanpreet had enough temperament to overcome Bangladesh’s spinners. Priya Punia was bowled out for 15 in the fifth over with a swinging delivery from Marufa Akter, and Bhatia was run out for 15 in the 11th over. Mandhana batted her way to 36 off 58 before being caught off guard by Rabeya’s length in the 22nd over.
From then on, it was a long struggle for Rodrigues and Harmanpreet, who focused on rotating the attack; the Indian captain had stressed they needed to do more of this after their loss in the first game. They had put up 73 runs for the third wicket before Harmanpreet was injured and forced to retire.
With Harleen Deol at the other end, who replaced allrounder Pooja Vastrakar and was one of two changes to India’s XI from the first ODI, Rodrigues kept the scorecard moving and found boundaries by making good use of sweep and cut shots. At a quick tempo, these two put together a 58-run partnership.
Harmanpreet stepped back in after Deol was dismissed for a 36-ball 25 to clinch her 18th ODI fifty. After reaching her fifty, Rodrigues upped the tempo, hitting six fours from overs 44 to 49 before being caught by Nahida Akter in the last over.
Sneh Rana was run out, while Sultana Khatun bowled an amazing last over to eliminate Harmanpreet and Deepti. While India lost five wickets for 29 runs, they also scored 67 runs in the final 10 overs, which proved sufficient.
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