In the run-up to their clash against Sri Lanka in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, the equation was pretty simple for India to keep their semifinal hopes alive: get a win by 45 runs or above to push their net run rate into positive and take the second place in Group A.
At the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday evening, India exactly did what was asked of them in an empathic fashion – the batters shone to post a mammoth 172/3, all five bowlers took wickets and kept their economy rates below five, while the fielders took great catches to thrash Sri Lanka by 82 runs and jump to the second spot in Group A with a net run rate of 0.560.
Electing to bat first on a slow Dubai pitch, India had a splendid 98-run opening stand – Smriti Mandhana hit a 38-ball fifty while Shafali Verma made 46. After Sri Lanka fought back by dismissing the duo on successive deliveries, captain Harmanpreet Kaur applied perfect finishing touches by smoking pacers and spinners to hit a 27-ball fifty.
The Indian batters’ used their crease well, ran well between the wickets and found their groove to punish Sri Lanka, who dropped simple catches of Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues. In reply, Asha Sobhana and Arundhati Reddy took 3-19 each as Sri Lanka lost their top three in power-play, and were bowled out for 90 in 19.5 overs.
The 82-run win in a near-flawless performance against Sri Lanka also meant India got their highest-ever victory margin in Women’s T20 World Cups. Shafali got India going with three boundaries in as many overs – with a chipped drive over extra cover off Udeshika Prabodhani being the standout.
Smriti started to come out of her struggles by hammering Sugandika Kumari for a four down the ground before Shafali ended India’s best power-play at this World Cup with a pulled four taking the score to 41/0.
In the process, Shafali also became the youngest batter to score 2000 women’s T20I runs. Post Power-play, Smriti brought up India’s fifty by hitting the side’s first six of this World Cup – dancing down the pitch to dispatch Inoka Ranaweera over long-on.
Smriti then backed away to dish out an elegant inside-out loft over extra cover going for four off Udeshika and followed it up by lofting over mid-off for another boundary. Despite three boundary-less overs, India managed to keep the scoreboard ticking via singles and extras conceded by Sri Lankan bowlers.
Smriti got her fifty in 36 balls when she swept Chamari for four, before being run out just short of crease by Ama Kanchana. On the very next ball, Shafali miscued off Chamari and was caught at cover for 43. Jemimah struck the ball well in her brief knock of 16 before slicing to backward point off Ama.
Harmanpreet, back to batting at No.3, gloriously timed her leg-side shots, including the slog-sweeps, and placed her off-side shots very well to take India past 150. She then cleared Ama effortlessly over cover for four, before hitting back-to-back boundaries down the ground to take India past 170-mark.
In defence of 172, India got a breakthrough in the opening over when Vishmi Gunaratne miscued a loft off Renuka Singh Thakur and substitute fielder Radha Yadav ran diagonally to her right and made a dive to her left to complete a stunning catch.
Shreyanka Patil landed a body blow to Sri Lanka when Chamari Athapaththu pushed at a tossed-up delivery and edged to Deepti Sharma at slip. Renuka struck again when she enticed Harshitha Samarawickrama to go for a big drive and nicked behind.
Anushka Sanjeewani and Kavisha Dilhari briefly rebuilt Sri Lanka’s innings with a 37-run stand for the fourth wicket, before the former was stumped off Asha. From there on, the result was a foregone conclusion as Asha and Arundhati Reddy went on to complete their respective three-fers, while good catching also ensured the match came to an end in India’s favour.
Brief scores:
India 172/3 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 52 not out, Smriti Mandhana 50; Ama Kanchana 1-29, Chamari Athapaththu 1-34) beat Sri Lanka 90 all out in 19.5 overs (Kavisha Dilhari 21; Asha Sobhana 3-19, Arundhati Reddy 3-19) by 82 runs
