India women clean sweep Bangladesh 5-0 in T20I series

India women completed an emphatic 5-0 series clean sweep over Bangladesh by winning the fifth and final T20I by 21 runs in Sylhet's International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

Batting first, India put on 156-5, the highest total from any team in this series and in reply, Bangladesh's batters continued to struggle and scored 135-6 in their 20 overs.

The match which had 291 runs in total happened to be the highest match aggregate involving the two teams.

For India, there were contributions throughout their batting order with Smriti Mandhana (33 from 25 balls), Dayalan Hemalatha (37 from 28 balls), captain Harmanpreet Kaur (30 from 24 balls) and Richa Ghosh, (28 not out from 17 balls) getting runs.

Spinners Rabeya Khan and Nahida Akter were the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh as they picked up two wickets each. 

In reply, Bangladesh never really got going and were always behind in the run chase, losing wickets regularly, before the sixth wicket.

Ritu Moni and Shorifa Khatun's 57-run partnership was the Tigress's highest for the 6th wicket in T20Is, breaking the record of 32 between Sanjida Islam and Nigar Sultana.

Skipper Nigar Sultana Joty was disappointed with the result but was much happier with the batting display, especially that of Rity Moni, who top-scored with 37 from 33 balls.

"We have seen a tough time this series, but today it was a better approach by the batters. Batting is the area we need to work on. We need to work on our approach and intent in batting like some batters settle down and then get out. Rabeya and Nahida are the bowlers doing really well, and Marufa (Akter) did well throughout the tournament. And Ritu showed us today how to bat," she said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

Radha Yadav was adjudged the Player of the Match and the Series for her bowling performances.

She took 3-24 in her four overs in this game and finished the series with 10 wickets, the highest among all bowlers in the series with an impressive average of just 9.60.

In the post-match presentation, Radha spoke about her bowling strategy and how hard work ahead of the series paid off for her: "I just wanted to bowl wicket to wicket, that's what I had worked on before the series."

The 24-year-old left-arm spinner spoke about their domestic franchise women's T20 tournament, the WPL helping the players and hoped to see some Bangladeshi players in there as well

"WPL is helping all the girls, hopefully, we'll get some players from Bangladesh as well. I'm trying to bowl in the right areas and working hard on my fitness as well," she concluded.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur was pleased with the performance and the result and hoped it would help in the T20 Women's World Cup later this year in October in Bangladesh

"The calmness all the players showed in the series is something I want to take to the World Cup. In fielding we made some mistakes but we know how to move forward," she explained.

The 35-year-old right-handed batter also gave credit to the WPL for their improved T20I performances and felt the experience gained from playing in Sylhet will give India an edge in the World Cup.

"The WPL gave our players a lot of confidence and those results are helping. This series and conditions will give us a lot of confidence and take our learnings into the World Cup and hopefully, we'll play our best cricket," she concluded.