Harmanpreet led India women’s team to trounce the Sri Lankan team by 10 wickets on Monday, July 4 at Pallekele Cricket Stadium. Since the legendary cricketer, Mithali Raj retired, team India’s first assignment in the 50-over format with the full-time captain Harmanpreet Kaur succeeded to seal a series win with Sri Lanka by two victories in a row.
India won the toss and opted to bowl against Sri Lanka in the second ODI of the three-match series. India easily bundled out Sri Lanka for 173 runs with Renuka Singh’s incredible performance with the ball. Renuka Singh won the game with 4 wickets and was named the player of the match. Meghna Singh and Deepti Sharma each took two wickets to help the team win.
Indian women did not have a problem chasing the 173 runs raised by the hosts. Without contributing a wicket, Smrithi Mandhana and Shafali Varma rocked the match. With 11 boundaries and a six, Smriti scored a total of 94 runs out of 83 balls. Smriti even had a chance to complete her century with a six when India needs 3 runs to win. But a wide from Kanchana spoiled her hope and Shafali sealed the win with a single. A solid combination with Smriti, Shafali contributed her career-best 71 runs to the total. India simply finished the match with their unchanged starting eleven.
On the host’s side, Ama Kanchana leads the scoring with 47 runs. Nilakshi de Silva and Chamari Athapaththu followed Kanchana with a score of 32 and 27 respectively. Sri Lanka couldn’t recover from Renuka’s early blows and couldn’t take a single wicket in return.
India’s chase also set a record for the highest target in women’s ODI that was successfully attained without a wicket being lost. Harmanpreet Kaur’s choice to bowl was justified since Renuka found her lengths right away. She had foreseen that the surface would offer something for the quick bowlers early.
India is looking forward to taking an unconquerable lead in the ongoing ODI series as the 1st ODI was a win with a margin of four wickets. The hosts won the toss in the first match and chose to bat first to score a total of 174 runs. With three wickets each, Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma were India’s top two bowlers in the match. Harmanpreet appeared to be in great form and struck a 63-ball 44 to lead India in 2-0.
The pitch is supposed to once again favor the spinners; therefore, Sri Lanka would aim to post a high score in the next match. But Indian women will be expecting another win to own the three ODI matches with superpowers Renuka Singh, Deepti Sharma, Smriti Mandhana, and Harmanpreet Kaur. The next match will be on Thursday, July 7 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. India, with the victory, moved up to second place in the Women’s Championship with four points. Sri Lanka is in the fourth position while South Africa retains the first place.
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