Sri Lanka Women 148 for 7 (Siriwardene 52, Gayakwad 3-24, Dabir 2-23) beat India Women 147 for 3 (Raj 67, Kaur 40*) by three wickets
Sri Lanka Women turned their form around after being whitewashed in the ODI series, with a three-wicket win over India Women in the first of the three T20s, in Vizianagaram. Chasing 148, Sri Lanka reached the target off the penultimate ball with the help of their captain Shashikala Siriwardene’s fifty.
Asked to bat, India’s openers started strong by putting on 71 in just over 10 overs when Anagha Deshpande was run out for 21. An in-form Mithali Raj was joined by Harmanpreet Kaur as they scored 67 in the next seven overs to take them close to 150. Raj fell for 67 off 47, which included nine fours and two sixes, but Kaur was unbeaten on 40 off 29. India could score only seven runs in the last two overs which kept them to 147 for 3.
Sri Lanka started briskly but they lost their top three by the seventh over. At 43 for 3, Siriwardene held the innings together with a stand of 37 with Oshadi Ranasinghe, who scored 19 off 17. Sri Lanka wobbled further when Ekta Bisht took two wickets in the 14th over to put Sri Lanka at a precarious 94 for 6. Needing another 54 from 37, Sri Lanka were ushered home as Siriwardene scored 52 off 39 and though she was dismissed in the penultimate over, the visitors reached the target with a ball to spare.
-SPORTS DESK
