Inoka Ranaweera picked up three quick wickets to briefly derail the Indian chase and give them a real scare in the 2nd T20I in Ranchi today.
Chasing a below par total of 107, India were left reeling at 27/4 as Ranaweera along with skipper Shashikala Siriwardene knocked over 4 batters for 11 runs. However, Indian skipper Mithali Raj made an unbeaten half century to guide the home team to the series clinching win.
Having won the toss, Siriwardene opted to bat first and the Sri Lankan openers started off in customary defensive manner, scoring just 13 runs in the 1st 5 overs. The dismissal of Yasoda Mendis brought in-form batter Dilani Manodara to the crease and she set about injecting some pace into the innings. Manodara ended up making 27 off 25 deliveries for the visitors and put on a valuable 47 run partnership for the 3rd wicket with skipper Siriwardene, who made 26. When the latter was dismissed in the 17th over, Sri Lanka had put themselves in a good position to make some quick runs in the last three and a half overs. However, the string of all-rounders that followed could not cope with the guile of Poonam Yadav and Ekta Bisht and the visitors ended up making just 23 off the last 3.4 overs, losing 6 wickets along the way.
India had showcased their batting potential on the tour so far with the top four taking leading roles in getting runs on the board. This time however, they decided to test some of their more inexperienced players in the top order and their plan backfired as Vellaswamy Vanitha, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma and Veda Krishnamurthy were all taken care of by the spin bowling duo Siriwardene and Ranaweera. At 27/4 India were in a real spot of bother for the 1st time in the entire series. However Raj, supported by Anuja Patil, played a captain’s knock to ensure that India did not mess up what should have been an easy chase. Patil was dismissed with the target within reach but Raj scored the winning runs that gave India the series win.
The spinners bowled well for the Lankans and for a brief period of time it really looked like they would spring an upset on the high-flying home team. It was not to be however as Ranaweera’s 3 wickets could not keep the hosts at bay.
With the win, India took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3 match T20I series with the last game scheduled to be played on the 26th of February at the same venue.
Scores
Sri Lanka 107/8 (20) Dilani Manodara 27, Shashikala Siriwardene 26, Poonam yadav 3/17, Ekta Bisht 3/22
India 108/5 (19) Mithali Raj 51, Anuja Patil 34, Inoka Ranaweera 3/10, Eshani Lokusooriya 1/13
Result – India won by 5 wickets (with 6 balls remaining)
