Bangladesh players celebrate their historic maiden ODI victory over India in the first match of the three-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday. Photo: BCB
Pacer Marufa Akter produced something special as Bangladesh women’s side stunned visiting India with a 40-run (via DLS) victory in the first ODI at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium yesterday.
Despite the historic feat — their very first win over India in ODI format — the Tigresses will be intent on tightening up loose ends in their batting following another subpar display.
Low-scoring matches in the T20Is continued into the ODI series in Mirpur. However, after Bangladesh posted just 152 in a rain-curtailed game reduced to 44 overs per side, Marufa got bounce and movement accounting for star batter Smriti Mandhana and other opener Priya Puniya.
Marufa would then come back in the middle overs to pick wickets in back-to-back deliveries to leave India reeling. Rabeya Khan also bagged three wickets.
The visitors were eventually bowled out for 113 in 35.5 overs as Tigresses continued on their winning ways following their victory in the final T20I on Friday.
“We used the momentum from the win in the T20I series but I feel the batting is still a concern. I don’t think we lost our wickets in very good deliveries,” skipper Nigar Sultana Joty said in the press conference after the game.
The Tigresses were off to a slow start before rain halted proceedings. After the rain break, Fargana Hoque (27) and Joty (39) strung together a 49-run stand. However, the latter said a bigger partnership was required.
“A bigger partnership could have allowed us to get to 200 since we had the opportunity, but the girls bowled excellently,” Joty said.
“Whatever we do becomes part of history. A win against India took a long time to come. Of course, it’s part of history but we will try to add more to that history,” she added.
With Shorna Akter retired hurt following a pain, Sultana Khatun and Fahim Khatun eventually added a vital 26 runs for the eighth-wicket stand.
Marufa shook India after that. It was the head coach Hashan Tillakaratne’s idea to bring on Marufa in the middle overs, resulting in the end of a crucial 30-run stand between Deepti Sharma and Amanjot Kaur.
“She’s one of the top bowlers in the world right now. Also, the batters were handling the spinners very well. So, we wanted to dig the momentum. That’s one of the reasons we wanted to bowl Marufa,” Tillakaratne said.
While the head coach commended the brilliant fielding effort, he highlighted the need for improvement just like Joty.
“The wicket played really well. Unfortunately, our batters faltered and were short by 50-60 runs. I think there are a few loose ends that we need to tighten up before the second one,” he said.
