World T20 warm-up: Smriti Mandhana shines as Indian women beat Ireland

After winning the toss, Indian skipper Mithali Raj opted to bat first on batting-friendly track at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Thursday. But, the team got off to a poor start with both openers back in the pavilion inside the first three overs. Vellaswamy Vanitha was the first to fall for two after she edged one from Kim Garth into the gloves of Mary Waldron. Skipper Mithali Raj followed her opening partner back to the dressing in the same over with Garth and Waldron once again combing for the wicket.

With the team struggling at 16/2, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur joined hands to form a 72-run partnership for the third wicket to steady the Indian innings. Although Kaur fell for a well-made 24 off 31 balls in the 14th over, Mandhana and Veda Krishnamurthy took the team to a challenging total of 145 with a 46-run partnership. Mandhana top scored for the side with 71 runs off 52 balls, while Grath shined as the best bowler in the innings taking three wickets for sixteen runs.

Chasing 146, Ireland got off to a similar start as their rivals, losing two wickets in the first four overs. Openers Clare Shillington and Cecelia Joyce were both removed by medium pace bowler Shikha Pandey to leave the Irish struggling at 29/2 in four overs. Gaby Lewis also followed them to the dressing room shortly with right arm off-spinner Deepti Sharma sending back the right-hander for four. However, skipper Isobel Joyce and Cath Dalton kept the hopes of a win alive for the Irish with a 38-run partnership for the fourth wicket.