Women's T20 World Cup: Shafali Verma stars as India beat Bangladesh to stay in semi-final race

The good news is that India are still in the hunt for a semifinal berth in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup with a five-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Manchester on Thursday. But they probably got lucky on the day.

A lacklustre performance like this could prove costly against Australia, who they face on Sunday in their last league game.Four dropped catches inside the Powerplay and 10 extras, including seven wides, don’t make for attributes of a clinical side. The reigning ODI champions were unbearably sloppy on the field.

Spinner Shree Charani (2/21) bore the brunt of her teammates’ lapses, with three catches going down off her bowling.

Juairiya Ferdous was handed three reprieves, one each by Yastika Bhatia, Radha Yadav and Nandani Sharma. Nandani later also dropped Sobhana Mostary. Additionally, Nandani was warned twice for running on the pitch.The dropped catches allowed Bangladesh to post 136/8.

Radha, who replaced Prema Rawat in the playing XI, made amends for the dropped catch by claiming three wickets. Renuka Singh, brought in for Arundhati Reddy, provided the first breakthrough when Dilara Akter pulled a short ball straight to Shree Charani in the deep.

Juairiya (33), Sobhana Mostary (22) and captain Nigar Sultana (32) all got starts but failed to convert them. India’s chase began in a contrasting fashion. Smriti Mandhana (8) departed in the third over. Shafali Verma, who survived a dropped chance in the opening over, responded with an innings packed with power and backed by placement.

Her 53-ball 34 set the tone with a flurry of boundaries and topped it with a massive six off Shanjida Akter over the long-on boundary.

Her innings ended against the run of play when she lost balance and wicketkeeper Sultana was quick with the stumping off Nahida Akter’s bowling. However, the middle-order’s familiar inconsistencies resurfaced as Yastika Bhatia and Richa Ghosh departed in successive overs. Jemimah Rodrigues made 26.

Deepti Sharma finally completed the chase with a boundary.England storm into semisEngland became the first into the semifinals of the tournament as they beat the West Indies by 38 runs at Lord’s on Wednesday.Brief scores: India 139/5 in 16.5 overs (S Verma 53, J Rodrigues 26; R Moni 2/29) beat Bangladesh: 136/8 (J Ferdous 33; R Yadav 3/28, S Charani 2/21)