Mirpur, July 19 (PTI): Jemimah Rodrigues made a career-high 86 before taking four wickets with her part time off-spin to set up a series-levelling 108-run win for India in the second women’s ODI against Bangladesh here on Wednesday.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (52) and Jemimah (86 off 78) forged a 73-run stand off 91 balls for the fourth wicket to take India to 228 for eight after being put in to bat, a much improved batting effort following a shock loss in the first ODI.
Bangladesh made a poor start to the run chase before a 68-run stand off 92 balls between Ritu Moni (27 off 46) and Fargana Hoque (47 off 81) raised the prospect of a rare series win over India.
However, they both fell in quick succession and from 106 for three, Bangladesh collapsed to 120 all out in 35.1 overs.
Jemimah ended with remarkable figures of four wickets for three runs in 3.1 overs while leggie Devika Vaidya struck thrice.
The two set Bangladesh batters, Ritu and Fargana, were both stumped off Devika and Jemimah respectively. Pacer Meghna Singh, playing her first ODI since September, removed opener Murshida Khatun (12 off 19)
The third and final ODI will be played here on Saturday.
“It was a great opportunity for us to bat first and set up a decent total on the board. We spoke about one of the batters batting till the end, when Jemi (Jemimah)came in we played according to the ball and focus was on rotating the strike,” said Harmanpreet, who retired hurt in the 37th over after feeling pain in her left hand.
“We have been batting on flat tracks, played ODIs after a long time and hence were not able to adjust quickly, but we spoke about how to adjust and bat on these surfaces (after the first game).
“It will be a good game in two days time,”
Smriti Mandhana captained the side when Bangladesh were batting.
Earlier, the 22-year-old Jemimah finally returned to form and it was her strokeplay which helped India up the ante after a slow start at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here.
Jemimah kept dealing in boundaries, sending the ball nine times across the fence, while Harmanpreet returned at the fag end to complete her fifty. She had three fours in her 88-ball knock.
At the start of the innings, India found the going tough with Bangladesh bowlers bowling a good line and length.
Opener Priya Punia was the first to go with Marufa Akter cleaning her up in the fifth over, while Yastika Bhatia was unfortunate to get out after she was run out in the 11th over.
It was a straight hit by Mandhana which found the hands of Marufa and hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end with Bhatia out of the crease.
Harmanpreet then joined Mandhana but runs were difficult to come by with the spinners bowling in tandem extracting turn and bounce from the pitch.
Soon runs dried up as the duo managed 28 off 66 balls when Mandhana was sent packing by leg-spinner Rabeya Khan, leaving India at 71 for three.
Harmanpreet seemed to struggle to connect with her sweep shots but once Jemimah joined her in the middle, things started to change as the duo started using the feet.
The duo dealt in singles and waited for bad deliveries, while Bangladesh gave long spells to their bowlers to keep the pressure.
The duo brought up their 50-run partnership in the 32th over.
Jemimah completed her half-century with her third four in the 41st over off Marufa.
