India women defeated Sri Lanka women by five wickets in the second T20 in Dambulla on Saturday and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. India had won the first match by 34 runs on June 23. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur contributed with both bat and ball. (More Cricket News)
Chasing a par 126, Smriti Madhana returned among runs with a 34-ball 39 at the top of the order. Harmanpreet remained unbeaten on 32-ball 31 as India reached their target with five balls to spare. India will face Sri Lanka in the final T20 on June 27.
India stuttered in what should have been a comfortable run chase before Harmanpreet took India home. Shefali Verma (17 off 10 balls) and Sabbhineni Meghana (17 off 10 balls) too helped in India’s chase.
It was a day to remember for Mandhana who became the second-fastest Indian woman to reach 2,000 runs T20 runs. Mandhana reached the feat in her 84th innings, becoming the third Indian woman after the legendary Mithali Raj (70 innings) and current skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (88 innings) to cross the mark.
Sri Lanka squandered a fine start to post a below par 125 for seven. Opting to bat first and with the series on line, it was the duo of captain Chamari Athapaththu (43 off 41 balls) and Vishmi Gunaratne (45 off 50 balls) provided an ideal start for the Lankans by taking the Indian bowlers to the cleaners.
The duo also put up Sri Lanka's best opening stand (87) in T20s to leave the Indians frantically rummaging for breakthroughs. However, as both Athapaththu and Gunaratne departed, it was a sorry state of affairs for Sri Lanka as they lost a slew of wickets, only managing an underwhelming total.
Deepti Sharma (2/34 in 4 overs) was certainly the best bowler on view while the likes of Radha Yadav and Pooja Vastrakar also helped India claw back with the ball.
