Harman leads from front, India seal series

Dambulla, June 25

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur contributed with both bat and ball to steer the Indian women’s cricket team to a series sealing five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second T20 International here today.

Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana top-scored for India with 39 runs off 34 balls as the team chased down the 126-run target in 19.1 overs. India stuttered in what should have been a comfortable run chase before Harmanpreet took India home with an unbeaten 31 of 32 balls.

Smriti goes past 2,000

Mandhana became the second-fastest Indian woman to reach 2,000 T20 International runs. Mandhana achieved the feat in 84 innings, becoming the third Indian woman after Mithali Raj (70 innings) and Harmanpreet (88 innings) to cross the mark.

Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka squandered a fine start to post a below-par 125/7. Captain Chamari Athapaththu (43 off 41 balls) and Vishmi Gunaratne (45 off 50 balls) provided an ideal start. The duo put up 87 runs — Sri Lanka’s best opening stand in T20Is. However, after Athapaththu and Gunaratne departed, Sri Lanka lost a slew of wickets. Deepti Sharma (2/34) was the best bowler.

The third and final T20 will be played here on Monday.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 125/7 (Gunaratne 45, Athapaththu 43; Deepti 2/34); India 127/5 (Mandhana 39, Harmanpreet 31*).