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The previous time these two teams met in Bangladesh, Harmanpreet Kaur smashed the stumps and slammed the umpires for making “pathetic decisions,” and the home captain Nigar Sultana criticised her “manners.” It was a fairly tense encounter. Nine months later, the main focus is on the T20 World Cup, which will be held in Bangladesh from September to October. India and Bangladesh will start their preparations on Sunday with a five-match T20I series in Sylhet.
Despite being humiliated 3-0 at home by Australia a few weeks prior, Bangladesh hasn’t made many changes to their team for this series. Senior players like Harmanpreet and Smriti Mandhana failed miserably in India’s 2-1 home loss to Australia in the T20I series that concluded in December or January. But a few of India’s international players returned to form in the 2024 WPL, and they will be hoping to continue that momentum into the international cricket scene with a few new players joining the fray. Before heading to Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup in July, which is a prelude to the T20 World Cup later this year, both teams will be eager to try out and figure out their best lineups in these five Twenty20 Internationals.
If Bangladesh want to compete with India, they must make progress in their batting. Their scores in the most recent series against Australia were 126 for 4, 103 for 9, and 78 all out. With 96 runs in three innings, including a fifty, with a strike rate of 91.42, only their captain Sultana was reliable. With 53 runs, Fahima Khatun was Bangladesh’s second-best batter. Before Sultana can get going, the hosts will need top-order hitters like Fargana Hoque, Sobhana Mostary, and Rubya to lay a strong foundation.
India’s top three endured a dismal series the previous time they toured Bangladesh in July 2023. Shafali Verma scored thirty, Smriti Mandhana fifty-two, and Jemimah Rodrigues forty-seven in three games. Rodrigues has a back ache, thus he will miss this series. Regarding their previous performance, both openers had great WPL seasons. Shafali ended as the third-highest run scorer with 309 in nine games at a strike rate of 156.85, while Mandhana finished right behind her with 300 in 10 games at 133.92. India’s top three will think they’re more ready this time.
India may have more than one issue. After years of arduous work on the domestic circuit, spin-bowling all-rounder S Sajana and legspinner S Asha have earned their first international call-ups thanks to their WPL performances. It remains to be seen how India can fit Asha, Radha, and Saika Ishaque into the XI given that Deepti Sharma and Shreyanka Patil are their first-choice spinners. In fact, India may have to bench Amanjot Kaur in order to make room for Sajana in the lower middle order.