Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana dropped India’s Shafali Verma on four and the opener made them pay with a brisk half-century which handed Bangladesh a five-wicket defeat in their Group 1 match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Manchester on Thursday.

Shafali made 53 off 34 balls with the help of eight fours and a six as India chased down 137-run target in 16.5 overs.

Medium pacer Ritu Moni picked up a couple of wickets while Nahida Akter, Rabeya Khan and Marufa Akter claimed one wicket apiece for Bangladesh.

Earlier, Bangladesh hobbled to 136-8 batting first. Opener Juairiya Ferdous top scored with 33 off 32 balls while skipper Nigar made 32 off 27.

The score never seemed to be enough against a strong Indian batting lineup and Bangladesh’s best hope was picking up early wickets.

But after Nigar dropped Shafali off Marufa Akter in the very first over, the opener powered India to 63-1 in the Powerplay, which put Bangladesh out of contention in the contest.

After Nahida dismissed Shafali in the ninth over, Bangladesh claimed a few more Indian wickets in quick successions.

However, Jemimah Rodrigues’ 15-ball 26 and captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 13 off 14 helped India reach 139-5 in 16.5 overs.

They are currently fourth out of six teams in Group 1 with two wins and two defeats.

Nigar and Co. can still mathematically qualify for the semifinal as Group 1 runners-up. But for that, they would have to defeat South Africa in their final group stage match on Sunday by an astronomical margin and hope India too suffer a very heavy defeat against Australia in their final group stage fixture.