The Indian women's cricket team survived a mid-innings collapse to beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in the second Twenty20 International to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, in Ranchi on Wednesday. After restricting Sri Lanka to 107/8 in 20 overs, the Indians endured some anxious moments before coming through in 19 overs. The decision to bat first backfired severely on the Lankans with Ekta Bisht (3/22) and Poonam Yadav (3/17) combining to rip through the visiting line-up. Dilani Manodara's 27 was the best that a Lankan batter could manage, followed by skipper Shashikala Siriwardene's 26-run effort. In reply, India's in-form captain Mithali Raj was the star performer for the hosts, striking an unbeaten 51 which came off 52 balls and was studded with half a dozen fours.
Riding on half-centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur followed by Poonam Yadav's four-wicket haul, India women thrashed Sri Lanka by 107 runs in the first One-Day International of the three-match series.
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Harmanpreet, who was the second highest run-maker during the recently concluded ICC Women's World T20 event, gained three slots to reach the third position.
Medium-pacer Deepti Sharma grabbed six wickets before Veda Krishnamurthy scored a half-century as India women completed 3-0 clean sweep after posting a comfortable seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the third and final ODI on Friday at Ranchi. Deepti followed up her four-for in the previous game with figures of six for 20 to bundle out Sri Lanka for a paltry 112 in 38.2 overs. India then crossed the target in just 29.3 overs with Veda Krishnamurthy top-scoring with an unbeaten 61. Sri Lanka got off to a good start after electing to bat, with openers Yasoda Mendis (14) and Prasadani Weerakkody (19) adding 33 before Deepti took two wickets in two consecutive deliveries to trigger a dramatic collapse. Although captain Shashikala Siriwardene (14) and Dilani Manodara (23) later combined for a 32-run sixth-wicket stand, wickets kept falling and Sri Lanka were ultimately bowled out for 112 from 94 for five at one stage. Debutant Preeti Bose also put up an impressive show, returning figures of 8-4-8-2.
Anuja Patil produced a cameo with the bat to lift the team to 130 and then took three wickets to guide India Women to a 34-run win over Sri Lanka Women in the first Twenty20 International on Monday. With this victory, India Women have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20 series. Opting to bat, India Women posted 130 for six and then managed to restrict Sri Lanka to 96 for seven in 20 overs. Indian eves did not have an ideal start as they lost skipper Mithali Raj (3) and V R Vanitha (12) early to be reeling at 15 for 2 in four overs. But responsible batting by Smriti Mandhana (35) and Harmanpreet Kaur (36) put India back on track. Anuja provided the final flourish after coming in to bat at No.6. She hit three fours during her 22 that came off 17 balls. Left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka. She accounted for the top three and ended with figures of three for 28. Chasing a modest target, Sri Lanka lost opener Yasoda Mendis for eight with Anuja striking in the very first over. In her second over, Anuja returned to dismiss the other opener Chamari Atapattu for a duck to reduce the visitors to 13 for two.
Indian women's cricket team skipper Mithali Raj said their first aim is to qualify for the semifinals of the Women's Twenty20 World Cup. "Our first aim is to qualify for the semifinals, but we will treat all group matches on par with the knockout matches," Mithali told reporters ahead of the warm-up matches here. Mithali said the team is confident of performing well in the World Cup as they had a very successful T20 series against Australia and Sri Lanka prior to the tournament. "We had a very successful T20 series against Australia and Sri Lanka. Getting into the World Cup with these wins, the team is very confident. With the kind of phase the team is in, I don't see why we shouldn't be qualifying for semifinals," she said. Asked about the toughest opponent in the event, Mithal said Australia even though India had beaten them recently. "Australia will be a tough contender for us, even though we have beaten them recently," she said.
India took a giant stride towards clinching a semi-final spot with another convincing 16-run victory over Sri Lanka in a one-sided ICC Women's ODI World Cup encounter in Derby.
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