India, Bangladesh women cricket teams played hard fought series that ended on a sour note

 

While the Indian mens cricket team is playing in West Indies,  the women's team had their first international tour after the WPL . They had expectations of an easy tour of Bangladesh with some experimental selections and resting few players but it turned out to be a difficult tour which became fiery and ended on a very sour note as India beat Bangladesh 2-1 in the T20I series but was surprised by the hosts with a 1-1 result in the ODI series.  

The T20I series started with the 1st game at Dhaka which India won with ease by 7 wickets  after restricting Bangladesh to 114 . Harmanpreet batted superbly on a difficult pitch with 54 notout to close the chase  and Mandhana scored 38 .

The 2nd T20I game played at the same venue was a low scoring one on a tough pitch . India batted poorly to score only 95 in 20 overs but their spinners performed excellently with 3 wickets each for Deepti and Shafali while Nigar Sultana's 38 was not enough for Bangladesh as they lost a gripping match by 8 runs to lose the T20I series .

However in the 3rd T20I , India batting faltered again badly . Batting first  Harmanpreet's 40 put India in a strong position but a stunning  lower collapse of 6 wickets going for 11 runs  saw India getting only 102/9 in 20 overs . In reply Bangladesh batters showed great resilience with Shamima Sultana (4 2) batting brilliantly and the hosts winning by 4 wickets with 10 balls remaining . 

That win gave confidence to Bangladesh as they beat India by 40 runs under DLS method in the rain affected 1st odi to take the lead in the series . Batting first the hosts managed only 152 in 43 overs in another low scoring encounter with Joti (39) and Fargana Hoque (27) main contributors and Amanjot taking 4 /31 for India. In reply the Indian batting fared poorly in a chase with no one passing 20 . Pacer Marufa Akter with 4 wickets and Rabiya Khan with 3 wickets created havoc as India were 113 allout in a humiliating defeat .

However the tourists cane back strong in the 2nd ODI . After sent in to bat first India scored 228/8 with solid contributions from Jemima (86), Harmanpreet (52), Mandhana (38) and Harleen (25). In reply Bangladesh collapsed to 120 allout  despite fighting efforts of Fargana(47) and Joti (27) .

With series 1-1 , the fiesty 3rd ODI was played  at Dhaka with  Bangladesh batting first and scoring a formidable 225 on the board as Fargana Hoque became the first ever woman cricketer of her country to score an ODI hundred . It was a fabulous innings as she showed great temperament and skills for her 107 while Shamima Sultana(52) continued her good run with another fine knock as India bowling hardly looked penetrative . In reply India lost 2 wickets early but Smriti (59) and Harleen (77) added a crucial 107 runs to put India on the road of victory . However India lost Smriti and Harnanpeet (14) quickly , the latter breaking the stumps after not being happy with her dismissal . India lost 2 wickets to runouts with Harleen & Deepti(0) having misunderstanding with Jemima . Again India lower order faltered and Jemima (31*) was unable to take the team to a win . In gripping tension , Marufa took the last wicket with scores tied at 225 and India choked again in a bigger chase .

Strangely no super over was played and the match was declared a tie . The series was shared 1-1 and the events of the game along with some dodgy umpiring decisions left Indian captain Harmanpreet fuming at the presentation where she vented her strong feelings that ended the tour on a very sour note . 

Harmanpreet Kaur being a captain of a leading international cricket team needed to show a lot more composure with her actions during and after the game and surely there will be sanctions on the Indian captain from ICC coming soon they may include fines and brief suspensions.  

Rather the Indian team needs to look at themselves on how they lost their 2 games and drew the ODI series unexpectedly . If the team is striving to be the world's best , losing to weaker teams like Bangladesh is not an option . 

Bangladesh on their part showed great resilience to extend India to the limits.  Their bowling and fielding generally was of high class and if they can improve their whole batting as a team they can start troubling the top teams more frequently.  

Overall the tour ended on a sour note although it had some close exciting games  .The pitches weren't of international standard and the broadcasting of the games was poor as well as the umpiring which was at times quite partial towards the home time . That said , India has to improve a lot in their overall cricket and team selections which was questionable even before this tour.