Bangladesh 103 for 6 (Shamima 42, Nigar 14, Vaidya 2-16, Mani 2-28) beat India 102 for 9 (Harmanpreet 40, Rodrigues 28, Rabeya 3-16, Sultana 2-17) by four wickets
Two days after coming close to upstaging them, Bangladesh defeated India in the final T20I to register a consolation win and finish the series 2-1. Chasing 103, Shamima Sultana kept Bangladesh in the hunt with a 46-ball 42 before a brief collapse in the middle threatened to undo the good work. But Sultana Khatun's eight-ball 12 and Nahida Akter's calm unbeaten six-ball 10 helped Bangladesh register their third win over India in 16 T20Is.
Spinners continue to trouble India
Like in the second T20I, India were once again bogged down by the Bangladesh spinners. Smriti Mandhana's troubles against offspin continued as she was dismissed off Sultana's first ball. Mandhana was early on an attempted flick and managed to get a leading edge behind the wicketkeeper, where Fahima Khatun pouched it after running to her right from slip. In Sultana's next over, Shafali Verma danced down the track and whipped the ball straight to long-on. This was after Shafali was kept quiet by seamer Marufa Akter - who, along with Sultana - had two fielders deep on the leg side to cut down boundary-scoring options and denied width outside off.
Shorna Akter then struck in her only over, getting a set Jemimah Rodrigues stumped before India collapsed from 91 to 3 to 102 for 9. While Yastika Bhatia failed to connect with an attempted heave and got trapped lbw by legspinner Rabeya Khan, Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma and Minnu Mani all fell to spin, in an attempt to force the pace at the death. Vastrakar was knocked over by a straight ball from Nahida while trying to hit across the line, while Mani was cleaned up attempting a scoop. Then Deepti holed out to deep midwicket on the final ball of the innings to hand Rabeya a three-for.
While Bangladesh bowled 16 overs of spin in the second T20I, they had spinners on for 17 overs on Thursday with India facing 44 dots against them.
Harmanpreet or bust
Coming on the back of a first-ball duck on Tuesday, Harmanpreet Kaur steadied the ship for India after finding herself in the middle, inside the powerplay again. She looked at ease against an on-song Sultana. In the company of Rodrigues, Harmanpreet calmed proceedings, often tapping the ball in front of cover and point for quick singles. She also used the sweep to good effect in an attempt to put the spinners off their lengths.
Harmanpreet first added 45 off 49 balls for the third wicket with Rodrigues and then another 26 with Yastika. She also hit the only six of the game, when she slinked down the track against Fahima's legspin to deposit her over wide long-on. The legspinner went on to have Harmanpreet stumped in the 17th over to severely dent India's progress at the death. In the end, India managed only 12 runs for six wickets in the last four overs to be restricted to 102 for 9.
Shamima holds the chase together
After failing to chase down 96 in the second T20I, Nahida had called for more responsibility from the top five. Shamima took it upon herself to take the chase deep. She hit only three fours in her knock and ran well between the wickets. She used the sweep to find the gap in the arc between deep midwicket and fine leg and kept Bangladesh abreast of the asking rate.
She found an ally in captain Nigar Sultana, and the duo added 46 for the third wicket. That partnership put them on course to not repeat the errors from a couple of days ago. But in an attempt to cut Devika Vaidya - brought in for Harleen Deol - Nigar edged one to the wicketkeeper to briefly send jitters in the home dugout. From 62 for 2, Bangladesh were reduced to 85 for 6, with Shamima being run out in the 17th over.
However, Ritu Moni and Nahida ensured there were no further hiccups - they were aided by a 13-run over from debutant Rashi Kanojiya, who was brought in for B Anusha - as Bangladesh ensured their bowlers' good work for a second successive game did not go to waste.
