Mirpur, Jul 19 (PTI) Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur slammed fifties as India produced a good batting show to score a competitive 228 for 8 against Bangladesh in the second women’s ODI here on Wednesday.

Sent in to bat, Smriti Mandhana made a 58-ball 36 at the top but India lost three wickets for 68 before Harmanpreet (52) and Jemimah (86) joined hands, adding 73 runs off 91 balls for the fourth wicket to steady the innings.

Jemimah, who struck her highest ODI score, also forged a 55-run stand with Harleen Deol (25) after Harmanpreet had retired hurt in the 37th over after feeling pain in her left hand.

The 22-year-old from Mumbai finally returned to form and it was her strokeplay which helped India up the ante after a slow start at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here.

Jemimah kept dealing in boundaries, sending the ball nine times across the fence, while Harmanpreet returned at the fag end to complete her fifty. She had three boundaries in her 88-ball knock.

Earlier, India found the going tough with Bangladesh bowlers bowling a good line and length.

Opener Priya Punia was the first to go with Marufa Akter cleaning her up in the fifth over, while Yastika Bhatia was unfortunate to get out after she was run out in the 11th over.

It was a straight hit by Mandhana which found the hands of Marufa and crashed into the stumps at the non-striker’s end with Bhatia out of the crease.

Harmanpreet then joined Mandhana but runs were difficult to come by with the spinners bowling in tandem extracting turn and bounce from the pitch.

Soon runs dried up as the duo managed 28 off 66 balls when Mandhana was sent packing by leg-spinner Rabeya Khan, leaving India at 71 for three.

Harmanpreet seemed to struggle to connect with her sweep shots but once Jemimah joined her in the middle, things started to change as the duo started using the feet. Soon the hundred was up in the 28th over.

The duo looked for singles and waited for bad deliveries, while Bangladesh gave long spells to their bowlers to keep the pressure.

The duo brought up their 50-run partnership in the 32th over.

Jemimah completed her half-century with her third four in the 41st over off Marufa.

In the last five overs, Jemimah smashed five more boundaries to give the swell the total.

Source: PTI News