Dominant India win rain-marred 2nd T20I by 19 runs

SYLHET: Radha Yadav and Dayalan Hemalatha sizzled produced an all-round show as a dominant India beat Bangladesh by 19 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method in a rain-marred second women's T20 International here on Tuesday.

Led by left-arm spinner Radha's splendid show, Indian bowlers bundled out Bangladesh for 119 after the hosts opted to bat first.

Radha finished with excellent figures of 3/19, while there were two wickets apiece for Deepti Sharma (2/14) and Shreyanka Patil (2/24).

For Bangladesh, opener Murshida Khatun top-scored with 46 off 49 balls.

Chasing a modest total, India lost an early wicket as Shafali Verma (0) was caught down the leg side after she tried to flick it through fine leg.

Hemalatha, however, blazed away to a 24-ball 41 as India raced to 47 for one in 5.2 overs, when the heaven opened up for the second time during the match. Hemalatha smashed five fours and two sixes in her unbeaten knock.

The par score was 28 and the Indian team was ahead by 19 runs, and with the surface rendered unplayable by the heavy rain, the visitors were declared winners.

India thus took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Earlier, Dilara Akter got the Bangladesh innings underway when she pulled Renuka Singh, the star of the five-match series opener, over mid-wicket for a four in only the second ball of the match.

Akter got into a good position and whipped off her pads a swinging Renuka delivery over backward square leg for a boundary.

An 11-run first over was followed by the wicket of Akter as experienced spinner Deepti Sharma struck with one that was drifting in, which prompted the batter to go for a sweep but she could not get the elevation and ended up giving a catch to Renuka in the deep.

Renuka conceded another boundary when Murshida Khatun came down the track to smash her over mid-off.

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur then made a mess of a straightforward chance off Renuka after getting both her hands to it, giving Murshida reprieve on 6 after the batter mistimed her shot.

One-down bat Sobhana Mostary opened her account with a boundary as she drove a Renuka delivery past backward point.

Renuka, meanwhile, was proving to be quite wayward on this day as he conceded another wide.

Deepti continued to bowl economically and gave away only three runs in her next over before Harmanpreet replaced a profligate Renuka with medium pacer Pooja Vastrakar. Mostary greeted Vastrakar with two fours, including a lovely cover drive.

There was a bowling change at the other end too, and off-spinner Shreyanka Patil struck in her very first over, having Mostary (19 off 15 balls) trapped in front of the wicket after a promising start by the batter.

Brought into the attack for the first time in the eighth over, left-arm spinner Radha started on a bright note before removing Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana and Fahima Khatun off successive balls.

Radha, however, could not complete a hat-trick as Sultana Khatun struck her for a boundary.

Deepti bowled Ritu Moni for her second wicket, while Radha completed an excellent outing with the ball by having Rabeya Khan stumped.