Mirpur. India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is hopeful that the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh starting here on Sunday will be played on better wickets for batting. India won the T20 series 2-1 but the batsmen struggled to score runs on a slow pitch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. The Indian team scored 95 and 102 runs in the second and third matches respectively while Bangladesh scored 114 runs in the first match. Harmanpreet said ODIs are a different game than T20s and batsmen need to be patient to score well in difficult conditions.
Harmanpreet said on the eve of the first ODI, “Wherever we go, we want to play on good and favorable wickets for both the teams but as far as I know we have to play on the same pitch again tomorrow.” Hopefully in the last two matches we will get a better wicket to bat on. “He said,” The wicket can be slow in Asian conditions. As a batting unit, we will have to work hard to score runs and we are ready for that. Bangladesh could have won the series but their team could not even reach the target of 96 runs in the second T20 match. Bangladesh won the third match which would have boosted the morale of their team.
Barring Harmanpreet, there is no long shot player in the Indian team, who had to pay the price in the T20 series. Players like Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues will get more time to build up their innings in ODIs. Young opener Shafali Verma’s form has been a concern of late and she will look to silence her critics by performing well.Bangladesh have included Shamim Akhtar in the squad for the ODI series. Apart from them, Shorna Akhtar, Marufa Akhtar and Salma Khatoon have also been included in the team.
Team India is as follows: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Jemima Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol, Devika Vaidya, Uma Chhetri (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Priya Punia, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Anjali Sarwani , Monika Patel, Rashi Kanojia, Anusha Bareddi, Sneh Rana.
Bangladesh : Nigar Sultana (Captain), Nahida Akhtar, Murshida Khatoon, Fargana Haque, Shobhana Mostari, Shorna Akhtar, Ritu Moni, Lata Mondal, Disha Biswas, Marufa Akhtar, Sharmin Akhtar, Sanjeeda Akhtar, Rabeya Khan, Sultana Khatoon, Salma Khatoon, Fahima Khatoon Shamima Sultana. The match will start at 9 am Indian time.
