After winning the three-match ODI series by the 2-1 margin, Indian Women’s cricket team completed their Sri Lanka tour by winning the five-match T20I series by the 4-0- margin. In the last game of the T20I series at FTZ Sports Complex (Katunayake) on Tuesday, India women beat the hosts Sri Lanka women by 51 runs.
After winning the toss, the hosts sent the Indian women’s team to bat first. While the opener Smriti Mandhana lost her wicket in the very first over without opening her account, her opening partner Mithali Raj was bowled out on 12 runs.
Also read: Mithali Raj, Smriti Mandhana climb up in the ODI batting rankings
The no.3 batter Jemimah Rodrigues and the T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur rescued the team with the brilliant 75-run partnership for the third wicket. But once Rodriguez was dismissed on 46 runs off 31 balls (6 fours and only six), the team lost their next wickets in regular intervals as none of their next batters reached the double-digit scores.
Skipper Kaur stretched her innings from the other end and secured a 150+ total on the board. Kaur scored 63 runs off 38 balls (3 fours and 5 sixes) before getting caught behind the wicket. Indian women were bowled out for 156 in 18.3 overs.
Among the hosts’ bowlers, Shashikala Siriwardene (3/19) and Inoshi Priyadharshani (3/24) bagged three wickets each while Sripali Weerakkody (1/20), Oshadi Ranasinghe (1/26) and the skipper Chamari Atapattu (1/25) took one wicket each.
In reply, Sri Lanka women lost their wickets in regular intervals as they were bundled out for just 105 runs (17.4 overs) and India women won by 51 runs. Opener Yasoda Mendis (10), Anushka Sanjeewani (29), Shashikala Siriwardene (22) and Oshadi Ranasinghe (22) are the only batters to reach the double-digit marks in that innings.
Among the visiting bowlers, Poonam Yadav (3/18) got three wickets while Deepti Sharma (2/18) and Radha Yadav (2/14) took two wickets each.
Brief Scores: India Women – 156 in 18.3 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 63, Jemimah Rodrigues 46; Shashikala Siriwardene 3/19)
Sri Lanka Women – 105 in 17.4 overs (Anushka Sanjeewani 29, Shashikala Siriwardene 22; Poonam Yadav 3/18)
Result – India Women won by 51 runs
Important stats highlights of the match:
- It was the 33rd T20I match for Harmanpreet Kaur as an Indian women’s captain. With this game, Kaur books her name to the most no. of T20I captain for India Women’s cricket team after surpassing Mithali Raj’s 32 T20I captaincy record for India women’s.
- Indian women’s cricketers Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur put a 75-run partnership for the third wicket. It was the third highest third-wicket T20I partnership for India women’s cricket team.
