India-Sri Lanka women ODI: Bowlers set it up before openers seal series

PTI

Pallekele, July 4

The Indian women’s team dominated from start to finish, with both the bat and ball, to hammer Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the second ODI and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series here today.

It is worth mentioning that the openers fired for the first time on the tour, sharing a partnership of 174 runs to take the visitors home in just 25.4 overs. It is the highest target successfully chased without losing a wicket in women’s ODIs.

The bowlers set it up by dismissing Sri Lanka for 173. Medium-pacer Renuka Singh picked up 4/28, while Meghna Singh and Deepti Sharma took two wickets each. Smriti Mandhana’s stroke-filled 94 off 83 balls and Shafali Verma’s run-a-ball 71 then paved the way for a convincing win.

The experienced Mandhana struck 11 fours and a six in her blazing knock, while Verma found the fence four times and cleared it once.

After having won the first ODI comfortably, India came into the second game as firm favourites against a wobbly Sri Lankan side. “We have been talking about long partnerships. We discussed that we need to give 100%. The partnership was outstanding. It is important to have bowling options,” skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said.

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