India 228 for 8 (Rodrigues 86, Harmanpreet 52, Nahida 2-37, Sultana 2-41) beat Bangladesh 120 (Fargana 47, Rodrigues 4-3, Vaidya 3-30) by 108 runs
Jemimah Rodrigues slammed a rapid 86 and followed up with four wickets in 3.1 overs - both career-bests for her, with bat and ball - to propel India to a 108-run win against Bangladesh in sunny Mirpur on Wednesday. India thus levelled the three-match series 1-1, the series decider to be played on Saturday.
Playing in contrasting conditions to the rain-hit opening game, Rodrigues, along with Devika Vaidya spun a web to trigger a dramatic collapse from Bangladesh - they went from 106 for 3 to 120 all out in the span of 38 balls. Vaidya finished with figures of 3 for 30 in her eight overs.
Earlier, Harmanpreet Kaur's calculative fifty worked alongside Rodrigues' breezy knock to help India to a competitive 228 for 8 after they were put in. Harmanpreet had to retire hurt in the 37th over after she was hit on the left wrist at the non-striker's end while completing a single. She walked off the field having faced 80 balls for 48 runs, before coming back in the 47th over and finishing on 52. With Harmanpreet not taking the field at the beginning of Bangladesh's innings, Smriti Mandhana stood in as captain.
Seven wickets for 14 runs - Bangladesh's big collapse
At the end of 28 overs, Bangladesh needed 126 runs from 132 balls with seven wickets in hand, and they had two set-batters keeping the scorecard ticking. Fargana Hoque had played 79 deliveries for 46 runs by then, and Ritu Moni was on 25 off 38 balls. The pair had already done a repair job after Bangladesh were left reeling at 14 for 2, Meghna Singh and Deepti Sharma taking a wicket apiece early in the chase.
Mandhana then threw the ball to Vaidya. The change in bowling worked as the legspinner removed Fargana with turn and bounce last ball of the 29th over. That was with the help of Yastika Bhatia, who was quick to remove the bails when Fargana had stepped out to a delivery that spun away. Mandhana then made it a double-change in the bowling by handing the ball to Rodrigues, the part-time offspinner (with a grand total of one wicket in ODIs at that point). She had her second ODI wicket in her very first over of the day, when Bhatia dislodged the bails once again to dismiss a charging Moni.
Vaidya picked up her second wicket in the following over, Bhatia in action once again stumping legspinner Rabeya Khan, and now the slide had well and truly begun. Two overs later, Rodrigues, who kept pitching the ball full, got two to turn in sharply to send Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana and Nahida Akter back in the same over. At 114 for 8, Bangladesh were all but done.
Rodrigues, Harmanpreet lift India
The surface for the second ODI was spin-friendly with some awkward bounce on offer, as compared to the first match which was played in overcast conditions in which India were bowled out for 113.
India still had to toil for runs, but Rodrigues and Harmanpreet showcased temperament to negate Bangladesh's spinners. They had lost Priya Punia in the fifth over, undone by a swinging delivery from Marufa Akter, and Bhatia - run out for 15 in the 11th over. Mandhana worked her way to 36 off 58 before deceived by Rabeya's length in the 22nd over.
It was a long grind for Rodrigues and Harmanpreet from there, and the duo concentrated on rotating the strike - the Indian captain had said they needed to do more of this after their defeat in the first game. They had put on 73 runs for the third wicket before Harmanpreet retired hurt.
With Harleen Deol - who replaced allrounder Pooja Vastrakar and was one of the two changes that India made from their XI from the first ODI - at the other end, Rodrigues kept the scorecard moving and found boundaries by making good use of sweep and cut shots. These two stitched together a 58-run partnership at a brisk pace.
Once Deol was dismissed for a 36-ball 25, Harmanpreet walked back in to complete her 18th ODI fifty. Rodrigues increased the tempo after reaching her fifty, hitting six fours from overs 44 to 49 before being dismissed by Nahida Akter in the penultimate over.
Sultana Khatun bowled an outstanding final over to dismiss Harmanpreet and Deepti, and Sneh Rana was run out. While India lost five wickets for 29 runs, they also scored 67 runs in the final ten overs and that proved to be more than enough.
