Sri Lanka Women had their world cup curtain raiser against India well in their grasp with the host country reduced to 124 for six wickets by the 26th over before the Indians broke free by a 103 seventh wicket stand off 99 balls between run a ball half centuries by Deepti Sharma 53 and Amanjot Kaur 57 to an eventual 269 for 8 to bowling out the Sri Lankans for 211 in 45.4 overs chasing a DLS revised target of 271 off a rain reduced 47 overs yesterday at Banngalore’s Barsapara Cricket Stadium.
Sharma returned to inflict the damage on the Lankans with the ball with a haul of 3 for 54 to cap a match winning Player of the Match all-round performance as Sri Lanka Women lost their way in the quest for quick runs when Sharma struck a vital blow bowling the skipper Chamari Athapaththu for a 43 ball 47. The knock was good as far as it went in a canter of 3 to the stands and 4 to the ropes, but with her departure with the score 82 for 3 wickets after 15 overs, the only other noteworthy contribution coming from Nilakshi Silva 35 off 29 before being bowled by Sneh Rana followed by No 3 Harshitha Samarawickrama scraping 29 off 45 balls as the Lankans folded up well short of their target.
The defeat was a shell shocker for Athapaththu’s team given the control they enjoyed early on having run through the Indian top order batters starting with Smriti Mandhana for 8 heav4ing an outside the off stump delivery to Vishmi Gunaratne a running catch on the second attempt with the score 14 off the second ball of the fourth over by Udeshika Prabodhini. India recovered to 81 into the 2Oth over on a second wicket 67 stand between Pratika Rawal 37 off 54 and Harleen Deol 48 off 64 when Rawal became Inoka Ranaweera’s first victim giving Gunaratne her second catch in a 4 for 46 strike as India caved in to the off spinner who went on to to claim the wickets of Deol held by Kavisha Dilhari and Jemimah Rodriguez bowled for a first ball duck and the skipper Har…
India 269 for 8 (Amanjot 57, Deepti 53, Ranaweera 4-46) beat Sri Lanka 211 (Athapaththu 43, Deepti 3-54, Rana 2-32) by 59 runs (D/L method)