MANCHESTER, England (AP) — India accounted for Bangladesh by five wickets and simplified its Women’s Twenty20 World Cup ambitions on Thursday: Beat mighty Australia to reach the semifinals.
India endured a poor fielding display to limit Bangladesh to 136-8, then chased that down at 139-5 with 19 balls remaining at Old Trafford.
The decisive last group match with Australia is on Sunday at sold-out Lord’s. The Australians have cruised to four wins from four, including against South Africa, which thrashed India last Sunday.
“All set for Australia,” India captain Harmanpreet Kaur declared. “We’ll get a lot of confidence if we win that.”
Ultimately, Bangladesh’s biggest mistake was to drop Shafali Verma behind the stumps in the first over. Verma broke the chase in the powerplay — 63-1 — then reached a fifty off 29 balls, her second of the tournament.
She was stumped on 53 soon after but India could cruise, and Yastika Bhatia added 23 and Jemimah Rodrigues 26.
“Was sad I got out,” Verma said. “Would’ve been happier had I batted through.”
India was sloppy in the field, dropped four catches early and medium-pacer Nandni Sharma was warned twice for over-running the pitch. But Bangladesh’s lack of power-hitters undermined its chance to cash in.
Juairiya Ferdous was caught and bowled by Nandni on 33 in the ninth over and the only other big contributor was captain Nigar Sultana, who was stumped on 32 near the end.
South Africa was playing the Netherlands later Thursday.