Harmanpreet leads India to series-sealing victory over Sri Lanka
DAMBULLA: Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur contributed with bat and ball to steer the Indian women’s cricket team to a series sealing five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second T20I here on Saturday. Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana’s (39 off 34 balls) experience complemented by the exuberance of Shafali Verma (17 off 10 balls) and Sabbhineni Meghana (17 off 10 balls) helped India chase down the 126-run target in 19.1 overs.
India stuttered in what should have been a comfortable run chase before Harmanpreet took India home with an unbeaten 31 off 32 balls.
Sri Lanka had squandered a fine start to post a below par 125/7. The third and final T20I will be played here on Monday.
It was a day to remember for Mandhana, who became the second fastest Indian woman to reach 2,000 T20 runs. Mandhana reached the milestone in her 84th innings, becoming the third Indian woman after Mithali Raj (70 innings) and Harmanpreet Kaur (88 innings) to cross the mark.
Opting to bat with the series on the line, it was the duo of captain Chamari Athapaththu (43 off 41 balls) and Vishmi Gunaratne (45 off 50 balls) who provided an ideal start for the Sri Lanka by taking the Indian bowlers to the cleaners. The duo also put up Sri Lanka’s best opening stand (87) in T20s to leave the Indians frantically searching for breakthroughs. However, after Athapaththu and Gunaratne departed, Sri Lanka caved in as they lost a slew of wickets, finishing with an underwhelming total.
Deepti Sharma (2/34 in 4 overs) was the best bowler with support from spinners Radha Yadav and Pooja Vastrakar.
“They (bowlers) did a really good job today and also in the last match to defend 139,” Mandhana told the post-match press conference. Harmanpreet said: “Happy, hitting runs always feels good. I’m happy we batted well on a slow, turning track.” Brief scores: Sri Lanka 125/7 (V Gunaratne 45; D Sharma 2/34) lost to 127/5 in 19.1 overs (S Mandhana 39, H Kaur 31*) by