India women’s cricket team took an unassailable 2–0 lead after defeating Sri Lanka by five wickets in the second T20I of the three-match series. Opener Smriti Mandhana scored 39 for the chase in style and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur later joined the party with 31 to help India win the match at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Saturday (June 25). It was a poor day for Sri Lanka’s batting and bowling unit as they could not do much with the bat on difficult surfaces and despite that their bowlers achieved great success in the second T20I.
Despite struggling a bit against the Lankan bowlers in the beginning, the visiting team was excellent. Smriti Mandhana (39) and captain Harmanpreet Kaur (31) were the top scorers for India. Inoka Ranveera and Oshadi Ranasinghe took two wickets each for Sri Lanka. Chasing the target of 126 runs, India got off to a good start and scored 20 runs in three overs without losing any wickets.
In the fourth over of the innings, India lost their attacking batsman Shafali Verma as she tried to pull a shot off Oshadi Ranasinghe, but was caught by Kavisha Dilhari. The next over India played aggressively and hit three fours. In the sixth over, Sabbhineni Meghna was dismissed by Sugandhika Kumari for 17 runs in 10 balls.
Kumari’s wicket brought skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to the crease to form the needed partnership with opener Smriti Mandhana. Both of them played aggressively and consistently to help their team go beyond half of the target in just 10 overs. Trying to play a big shot, Mandhana Inoka got stumped by Anushka Sanjeevani off Ranveera’s ball. This wicket brought Jemima Rodrigues to the crease.
After 12 overs, India needed 35 runs in 48 balls. But Rodrigues could not stand for long as she returned to the pavilion behind Mandhana. New batsman Yastika Bhatia comes to the crease. After 16 overs, the visitors needed 19 runs from 24 balls to win the series. SL brought Inoka Ranvira back into the attack and she delivered a fiery spell, conceding only 4 runs and not allowing the visitors to play big shots.
Oshadi Ranasinghe dismissed Yastika, who made 13 off 18 balls. In the last over, India needed 3 runs to win the series and the match. And on the very first ball of the last over, Harmanpreet hit a brilliant four as India won by five wickets over Sri Lanka. Earlier, batting first, Sri Lanka got off to a good start.
Openers Vishmi Gunaratne and Chamari Athapaththu were working in the boundary. India offered a good mix of spin with Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav and pace with Renuka Singh and Simran Bahadur, but it yielded little fruit and zero wickets.
At the end of the powerplay, Sri Lanka stood 37/0 with Gunaratne (22*) and Athapaththu (11*) standing. Both shared a 50-run partnership in 8.3 overs. At the end of 10 overs, SL stood at 60/0 with Vishmi Gunaratne (31*) and Chamari Athapaththu (24*) standing. Both scored runs, Indian bowlers had no answer for their batting as they struggled for a breakthrough. ,
Medium pacer Pooja Vastrakar finally found the breakthrough in the 14th over, breaking the 87-run opening stand by dismissing skipper Athapaththu for 43 for 41 with the help of Radha Yadav’s safe hands. This brought Harshita Samarwickrama to the crease. In 15 overs, Sri Lanka stood at 90/1 with Harshita Samarawickrama (1*) and Vishmi Gunaratne (39*) standing. Sri Lanka crossed the 100-run mark in 16.2 overs. The pairing of Samarawickrama and Gunaratne continued with some solid strike rotation.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur provided another wicket for her team, dismissing Gunaratne for 45 runs. This brought Kavisha Dilhari to the crease. Spinner Deepti Sharma took another wicket by dismissing Harshita Samarwickrama for 9 runs. He chases him for just 1 with a scalpel from Nilakshmi de Silva, trapping him lbw.
Hasini Perera was the next player to be run out by wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia. Anushka Sanjeevani was the next to come out. Sri Lanka got off to a good start in the second half of the innings losing a lot of wickets. Oshadi Ranasinghe was the next player to go for Sri Lanka, who was caught by Radha Yadav for 5. Renuka Singh took the wicket of Dilhari for just 2 runs.
Tough bowling from India as the SL innings came to an end and careless batting by SL in the second half with Anushka Sanjeevani (6*) and Sugandhika Kumari (1*) Deepti Sharma taking the hosts to 125/7 in 20 overs. stopped. of bowlers with 2/34. Singh, Yadav, Vastrakar and Kaur also took a wicket each.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 123/7 (Vishmi Gunaratne 45, Chamari Athapaththu 43, Deepti Sharma 2/34) vs India 127/5 (Smriti Mandhana 39, Harmanpreet Kaur 31*; Inoka Ranaveera 2-18).
(with ANI inputs)