IND-W vs SL-W | Harman heroics headline clinical India’s all-round efforts in blowout win over Sri Lanka

Opting to bat first, India got off to a steady start as Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Varma plucked the occassional boundary to be decently placed at 41/0 at the end of the powerplay. Mandhana used the foundation to accelarate matters, smacking a six and two boundaries across the next three overs to further propel the score to 71/0 by the halfway mark while Shafali kept giving her able company. The former eventually brought up a 36-ball half-century with a boundary off Chamari Athapaththu in the 13th over but disaster struck immediately after as she succumbed to a brilliant fielding effort from the Lions to run her out at the non-striker’s end before Shafali holed out the next delivery to leave two new batters at the crease. Harmanpreet Kaur trotted early on but once the death arrived, the skipper broke loose in style. She began with a boundary and a maximum off Sugandika Kumari, followed it with a boundary in the 17th after Jemimah Rodrigues departed for a 16-run cameo, and then smacked two boundaries each in the final thre overs to bring up a 27-ball half-century on the final ball of the innings.

Chasing a huge target of 173, the Lions crumbled straightaway as opener Vishmi Gunaratne fell victim to a aRadha Yadav screamer on the second ball of the innings. Skipper Chamari edged out at slip off Shreyanka Patil in the next over and the slightest of nicks for Harshitha Samarawickrama took the score to 6/3 after three overs. Kivashi Dilhari and Anushka Sanjeewani steadied the innings thereafter with a quicker than run-a-ball 37 run stand but the latter ambitiously tried to break free against Asha Shobhana and was duly stumped in the eighth over. Sri Lanka never recovered thereafter as Arundhati Reddy scalped two in the 12th over while Asha reciprocated in kinda cross her next two overs. Kanchana emerged as Reddy’s third victim and with the score 86/9, India were firmly eyeing the 81-run mark for victory which would take their NRR over Pakistan. The Women in Blue managed the same by the barest of margins when Deepti Sharma folded out the Lankan innings for 90 on the penultimate ball of the innings, thus sealing an emphatic victory over their Asian rivals.

Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain extraordinaire, leads by example with a massive six!”

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