India-W rain down heavily upon Sri Lanka-W to garner further momentum in the T20 World Cup 2024

The Indian women needed a monumental victory in order to leapfrog Pakistan in terms of NRR after a slow start to the T20 World Cup. It arrived at the expense of Sri Lanka as the Women in Blue were absolutely brilliant in their pursuit of the second win of the tournament.

Winning the toss, India opted to bat first and were already wreaking havoc in no time. Smriti Mandhana found her form back, scoring her 27thT20I half-century while Shafali Verma was back to her explosive best, belting an exclusive 43 from just 40 balls.

The opening duo added 98 runs for India before both the batters were sent back to the pavilion while trying to hit the accelerator. Harmanpreet Kaur (52*) joined forces with Jemimah Rodrigues (16) to steer the Indian ship again and both looked in great nick until the latter fell to Ama Kanchana.

However, that did very little to deter the Indian spirits as the captain helmed the boat for them, spearheading the charge with an incredible half-century. India piled up 172/3, the highest total of the latest iteration of the tournament so far. It went without saying that the Women in Blue needed to get hold of their neighbours early enough to not just win but also keep the NRR in place.

India started off with early fireworks as a super catch from Radha Yadav off Renuk Singh’s bowling saw the back of Vishmi Gunaratne for a duck. Not long after, Sri Lanka’s captain, Chamari Athapaththu (1) was also back to the pavilion in no time whatsoever. Renuka Singh struck again, this time in the form of Harshitha Samarawickrama (3) as Sri Lanka tottered at 6/3.

Kavisha Dilhari (21) and Anushka Sanjeewani (20) did the initial repair work and just when it felt that Sri Lanka was eyeing for a marathon resistance, riding high on these two, Asha Sobhana rattled through, getting the better of Anushka. Richa Ghosh was lightning fast behind the stumps to break the partnership. Not long after, Arundhati Reddy, the Player of the Match in the last game stepped up and removed Nilakshi de Silva (8).

Reddy struck in quick succession with Kavisha Dilhari (21) falling prey to an excellent catch from the Himachali Express, Renuka Singh. From thereon it was just a matter of moments and formalities before India could raze through their counterparts. Sri Lanka was bundled out for 90, imparting India a staggering 82 runs win and a massive boost in their NRR, helping them to steer clear of Pakistan even if momentarily.

The duo of Arundhati Reddy and Asha Sobhana left their Lankan counterparts in a tizzy with six wickets between them. Captain Kaur won the Player of the Match award for her incredible performance with the bat.