India beat Bangladesh to keep semi-final hopes alive

ICC Women's T20 World Cup, Group 2, Old Trafford

Bangladesh 136-8 (20 overs): Ferdous 33 (31); Yadav 3-28

India 139-5 (16.5 overs): Shafali 53 (34); Ritu 2-29

India won by five wickets

Scorecard, Table

India beat Bangladesh by five wickets to boost their chances of reaching the Women's T20 World Cup semi-finals.

Chasing a below-par 137 at Old Trafford, opener Shafali Verma struck 53 from 34 balls as India reached their target in 16.5 overs.

The result eliminated Bangladesh, making it a straight shootout between India and South Africa for the second semi-final spot, and means India must beat Australia in the final group game on Sunday to qualify.

But if they are to overcome the six-time winners, India's fielding will need to improve significantly. A sloppy performance saw them drop four catches in the first five overs and the innings was littered with misfields.

Despite that, there was a glaring difference in quality between the teams as Bangladesh were unable to punish the mistakes as they scraped to 136-8.

Juairiya Ferdous top-scored with 33 while captain Nigar Sultana Joty added 32, but India's spin-heavy approach prevailed once more as Radha Yadav took 3-28 and Sree Charani 2-21.

India lost Smriti Mandhana early before Shafali took charge and the chase slowed after her dismissal in the ninth over, but Jemimah Rodrigues' 26 from 15 helped them over the line.

South Africa play winless Netherlands in the second game of the day at 18:30 BST, where they have a golden opportunity to close the gap in net run-rate between themselves and India.