India’s Amanjot Kaur grabs four wickets on ODI debut as Bangladesh batters struggle

Debutant Amanjot Kaur had a dream outing in the opening Women’s One-day International against Bangladesh, with the 23-year-old right-arm pacer grabbing four wickets to restrict the hosts to 152 in a rain-shortened match here on Sunday. In a match reduced to 44-over-a-side after a rain interruption lasting nearly an hour, Bangladesh could not come to the grips with the heavy and overcast conditions, while India, aided by the Amanjot’s magical spell and superb restrictive spells from Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma, managed to get a vice-like grip on the opponents from the start.

Amanjot got her maiden ODI wicket when she bowled a fuller delivery to opener Murshida Khatun in the ninth over, which swung around off. The Bangladesh batter went for the drive but mis-timed it and India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur took a low catch at mid-off, reducing the hosts to 14/2 in the eighth over at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Sneh Rana had earlier got India the first breakthrough when opener Sharmin Akhter was run out off the spinner’s bowling in the eight over.

The pressure of not being able to score in heavy overcast conditions and a soggy outfield took a toll as Akhter was caught well short of the crease after she responded to Murshida’s call to take a quick run.

Amanjot’s accurate throw from short-third man to Yastika Bhatia saw the wicketkeeper rip off the bails even as the Bangladesh batter dived full length to make it to safety.

Akhter did not even wait for the TV umpire’s decision as she made the long walk back to the dressing room. The start of the 16th over saw a rain interruption lasting more than an hour but, on resumption, the painfully slow rate of scoring continued with Bangladesh struggling at 63 for 3 at the end of the 21st over. Though veteran top-order batter Fargana Hoque (27) batted confidently in the company of skipper Nigar Sultana, she became Amanjot’s second victim off the penultimate ball of the 21st over. Playing the cut on the back-foot, Hoque got an outside edge to wicketkeeper Bhatia.

Skipper Sultana too perished soon trapped plumb in front of the wicket by Amanjot, bringing more cheers for the pacer and the India camp.

Wickets kept falling at regular intervals as the Bangladesh innings wound up with one over still left as the last batter, Shorna Akter, was absent hurt.

Earlier, India won the toss and elected to bowl first. Amanjot and left-arm spinner Bareddy Anusha made their ODI debut, while top-order batter Priya Punia returned to the Indian squad for the first time since early 2021.