After torrential rains called off a much anticipated 2nd T20 International between Sri Lanka Women and the Indian Women’s team, the organizers decided to shift the 3rd T20 to the morning to avoid late evening showers.
Indian Skipper Kaut decided to bowl first on a humid morning in Colombo. The Indian bowlers were right on the money as 20 year old right arm fast bowler Arundhati Reddy broke through the defence of opening batter Yasoda Mendis in the 3rd over. Skipper Chamari Attapattu took a very unlikely approach to her batting as she looked to bat the 20 overs. Attapattu’s new approach did work out for a while but she was dismissed in the 10th over for 28 as the Lankans were in a spot of bother at 51 for 3.
Shashikala Siriwardene was Sri Lanka’s life saver as she rebuilt the Lankan innings with some remarkable stroke play. Siriwardene looked to score runs faster but fell prey to a brilliant delivery by Reddy. All-rounder Nilakshi Silva gave a much needed boost to the Lankan innings with a quick fire 31, which include two fours and a six. Indian Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur introduced herself to the attack as she picked up two wickets in two balls, including the wicket of Silva, restricting Sri Lanka to a nominal score of 131 in their allocated 20 overs.
Sri Lanka was off to a good start dismissing left hander Smriti Mandhana and veteran batter Mithali Raj within the first 7 overs. India’s teenage prodigy Jemimah Rodrigues was up for the task as she belted the Lankan bowlers to all corners of the ground as she bought up her 2nd T20I fifty. Sri Lankan Skipper Attapattu’s late rush of wickets was not good enough as she dismissed her counterpart Kaut and Rodrigues in the 16th over.
India required 17 runs in the last four overs. Sri Lanka had to fight hard if they need to win this match, but a calm and composed Veda Krishnamurthy and Anuja Patil were wise enough to deal with singles to take India home.
Sri Lanka women will play India women in a series decider on the 24th of September at the same venue.
Full Scorecard
Sri Lanka Women
131/8
(20 overs)
Result
India Women
132/5
(18.2 overs)
INDW won by 5 wickets
Sri Lanka Women’s Innings
| Batting | R | B | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yasoda Mendis | b A Reddy | 3 | 4 | |||
| Chamari Athapatthu | c Rodrigues b R Yadav | 28 | 32 | |||
| Dilani Manodara | c Rodrigues b A Patil | 7 | 7 | |||
| Shashikala Siriwardene | c T Bhatia b A Reddy | 35 | 32 | |||
| Eshani Lokusuriya | (runout) A Reddy | 10 | 13 | |||
| Nilakshi de Silva | c A Reddy b H Kaur | 31 | 20 | |||
| Ama Kanchana | c A Patil b H Kaur | 1 | 3 | |||
| Sripali Weerakkody | not out | 3 | 4 | |||
| Kavisha Dilhari | (runout) A Reddy | 5 | 4 | |||
| Udeshika Prabodhani | not out | 0 | 0 | |||
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arundhati Reddy | 4 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 4.75 |
| Deepti Sharma | 4 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 8.50 |
| Anuja Patil | 4 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 5.00 |
| Poonam Yadav | 4 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 6.50 |
| Radha Yadav | 3 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 9.00 |
| Harmanpreet Kaur | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3.00 |
India Women’s Innings
| Batting | R | B | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mithali Raj | c N de Silva b S Siriwardene | 13 | 19 | |||
| Smriti Mandhana | c D Manodara b U Prabodhani | 6 | 9 | |||
| Jenimah Rodrigues | c U Prabodhani b C Athapatthu | 57 | 40 | |||
| Taniya Bhatia | c & b K Dilhari | 5 | 7 | |||
| Harmanpreet Kaur | c S Kumari b C Athapatthu | 24 | 19 | |||
| Veda Krishnamurthy | not out | 11 | 10 | |||
| Anuja Patil | not out | 8 | 6 | |||
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Udeshika Prabodhani | 3.2 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 8.44 |
| Sripali Weerakkody | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 5.50 |
| Shashikala Siriwardene | 4 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 5.75 |
| Sugandika Kumari | 3 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 9.00 |
| Chamari Athapatthu | 4 | 0 | 29 | 2 | 7.25 |
| Kavisha Dilhari | 2 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 6.00 |