The Indian women’s team produced another dominating performance in their last league game against Sri Lanka played at Junction Oval, Melbourne on Saturday.
Sri Lanka captain Chamari Atthapatu won the toss and decided to bat first. It was not an ideal start for the Lankan’s as Deepti Sharma dismissed Thimashini for 2 runs. Chamari looked impressive with her stroke play and put some pressure on the Indian bowlers. At the end of six overs, Sri Lankan women were 35 for 1.
After the power play overs, Rajeshwari Gayakwad dismissed Madavi. The Indian spinners were superb with their line and lengths which did not allow Sri Lanka to score runs easily. Radha Yadav took the big wicket of Sri Lankan captain for 33 from 24 balls.
The women in Blue kept picking wickets at regular intervals which stem the run flow. Nilkashi de Silva and Dilhari added 24 runs for the 8th wicket which helped Sri Lanka to cross the 100 runs mark. At the end of 20 overs, Sri Lankan women posted 113 for 9.
Chasing 114 runs to win, Shafali Verma continued to impress with her stroke play. Smriti Mandhana also played some lovely strokes which put the Sri Lankan bowlers under pressure. Prabodhani struck for Sri Lanka dismissing Mandhana for 17. The Indian openers added 34 runs in just 4.4 overs. Before the end of power play over, Verma hit Siriwardene for 15 runs off the over and took them to 49 for 1 at the end of six overs. Harmanpreet Kaur promoted her to number 3 in batting order.
After the power play overs, Kaur spent time in the middle and scored a quickfire 15 off 14 balls with 2 fours and 1 six. Verma hit Sri Lankan captain for 14 runs. In an attempt to hit a big shot, Kaur was dismissed. Kaur and Verma added 47 runs for the 2nd wicket. Shafali Verma was run out in a casual manner for a superb 47. Deepti Sharma and Jemimah Rodrigues completed the formalities as Indian women won the match by 7 wickets with 32 balls remaining.
Brief scores: Indian women 116 for 3 in 14.4 overs ( Shafali Verma 47, Prabodhani 1/13) beat Sri Lanka 113 for 9 in 20 overs ( Chamari Atthapatu 33, Dilhari 25*, Radha Yadav 4/23, Rajeshwari Gakywad 2/18) by 7 wickets.
The Indian women’s team have finished at top of the points table with 8 points.
