Women's World Cup: Clinical India rout Bangladesh by 110 runs

A pivotal aspect of sport is teamwork and in five games before Tuesday, it was an essential ingredient missing in India's Women's World Cup campaign. The last edition finalists went into their penultimate league outing against Bangladesh in Hamilton with their backs to the wall.
Nothing but a big win would suffice to keep their hopes of qualifying for the knockouts alive and they delivered as a team when it mattered the most.Mithali Raj-led side ticked many boxes en route to a resounding 110-run win over the Nigar Sultana's team. The win not only boosted their net run rate to 0.768, it also helped them climb to the third spot in the points table behind toppers Australia and South Africa.
India scored 229 for 7 in 50 overs with the help of Yastika Bhatia's half-century (50, 80b, 2x4), opener Shafali Verma's run-a-ball 42 (6x4, 1x6) and useful contributions from Richa Ghosh (26), Pooja Vastrakar (30 n.o) and Sneh Rana (27).

The spinners, led by off-spinner Sneh who came up with her career-best figures of 4-30, then bowled out the opposition for 119 in 40.3 overs. Opting to bat, India got off to their best start in the tournament with Smriti Mandhana (30) and Shafali at the crease. They got off to a rather sedate start with 25 runs coming off the first eight overs.
The openers broke the shackles in the ninth over with the introduction of left-arm spinner Nahida Akter (2/42). Off the second delivery, a fuller one, Shafali went down to slog sweep it over long on for a maximum. Two balls later, the youngster again went low to find the mid-wicket boundary. In the next over Shafali again picked up three boundaries off Jahanara Alam to bring up India's 50 in the 10th over. Their association of 74 runs was halted by Nahida when Mandhana pulled towards backward square leg and found Fargana Hoque.
This led to a top-order collapse with Shafali, stumped by Sultana off Ritu Moni (3/37), and skipper Mithali (0) heading back to the dugout in the same over.

Harmanpreet Kaur (14) was run out before Richa and Pooja began their rescue act with their 54-run partnership for the fifth wicket. India went without a boundary for 11 overs before Pooja found the gap through extra cover off Salma Khatun in the 47th over to bring up India's 200. Sneh then joined the part with her 23-ball 27 cameo.
Bangladesh were off to a disastrous start with spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad striking the first blow, sending back opener Sharmin Akhter. The top order then fell like a pack of cards. With Pooja (2/26) and Sneh striking frequently, Bangladesh choked and were reduced to 5 for 35 by the 18th over. Salma Khatun (32) was the lone player to put up a fight.
SCORES: India 229/7 (Smriti Mandhana 30, Shafali Verma 42, Yastika Bhatia 50, Richa Ghosh 26, Pooja Vastrakar 30 n.o, Sneh Rana 27; Ritu Moni 3-37, Nahida Akter 2-42) bt Bangladesh 119 in 40. 3 overs (Salma Khatun 32; Jhulan Goswami 2-19, P Vastrakar 2-26, Rana 4-30)