Junior local cricketers in Dhaka surprise star opening batter Smriti Mandhana with a birthday cake after the 2nd IND vs BAN ODI

India's opening batter Smriti Mandhana received a pleasant birthday surprise from local junior cricketers in Dhaka after the match against Bangladesh on Wednesday, July 19. Mandhana turned 27 yesterday (July 18).

The budding youngsters brought a cake to celebrate their favorite player's birthday. Mandhana interacted with them and went on to cut the cake in their presence.

The BCCI Women's Twitter handle gave a glimpse of the occasion by sharing a couple of pictures. They captioned the post:

"A sweet surprise Junior local cricketers in Dhaka brought a cake for @mandhana_smriti and celebrated her birthday after the 2nd ODI today. #TeamIndia."

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Smriti Mandhana lays foundation for India's dominant victory in the 2nd ODI

After losing the first ODI, India made a rousing comeback in the three-match series against Bangladesh on Wednesday. Jemimah Rodrigues stole the show in both departments for the visiting side.

Batting first after losing the toss, India scored 229/8 in 50 overs. Smriti Mandhana (36) and Harmanpreet Kaur (52) anchored the innings at different stages of innings with responsible knocks. Jemimah Rodrigues (86) played the role of enforcer with a magnificent knock.

Jemimah then produced a sensational spell in the second innings and triggered a middle-order collapse of Bangladesh's batting unit, engineering an easy win for her side. Jemimah Rodrigues (4/3) and Devika Vaidya (3/30) combined to skittle out Bangladesh for just 120.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur reflected on the win and stated:

"We wanted to bat first and set up a decent score on the board. We had a discussion in the dressing room that one batter should bat till the end. When Jemi came in, we played each delivery according to the merit of the ball and kept rotating the strike.

"We have been batting on flat tracks and after a long time we got a challenging track which had spin and couldn’t quite adjust quickly. We spoke about what plans to employ and how to adjust on these surfaces. The series decider in two days will be a good one."

India and Bangladesh will square off in the series decider on Saturday in Dhaka.