Teen star Jemimah hits 57, India up 2-0 vs Sri Lanka

Colombo, September 22 

Jemimah Rodrigues scored a power-packed 40-ball 57 as the Indian women won the third T20I against Sri Lanka by five wicket. India now enjoy an unassailable 2-0 lead in the five-match series with the second encounter being a washout. 

Opting to field, India restricted the Islanders to 131/8 with Shashikala Siriwardene (35) and Nilakshi de Silva (31) being the chief contributors. India comfortably chased down the target in 18.2 overs. For India, medium-pacer Arundhati Reddy kept things tight with figures of 2/19 in four overs. 

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur also chipped in with a couple of wickets in the penultimate over. In reply, Jemimah anchored the chase with six boundaries and two huge sixes adding 53 runs for the fourth wicket with Harmanpreet (24). 

The two sixes came off pacers — one off Udeshika Prabodhani and the other off Sreepali Weerakoddy. Jemimah had scored 36 runs in the first T20I. While Harmanpreet and Jemimah were both dismissed in the same over by Chamari Atapattu, India did not panic with only 19 runs to get. Veda Krishnamurthy (11*) and Anuja Patil (8*) completed the chase without much difficulty. It was Anuja, who hit a boundary off Udeshika to bring up their second win in the series.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka: 131/8 in 20 overs (Shashikala Siriwardene 35, Nilakshi de Silva 31; Arundhati Reddy 2/19, Harmanpreet Kaur 2/3); India: 132/5 in 18.2 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 57, Harmanpreet Kaur 24; AC Jayangani 2/29). — PTI