India look to seal series with another dominant show against Sri Lanka
A dominant India will look to seal the five-match series with another ruthless display when they take on a low-on-confidence Sri Lanka in the third women’s T20 International here on Friday. India have been outstanding with both the bat and the ball in the first and second T20Is, registering comprehensive eight-wicket and seven-wicket wins respectively in Visakhapatnam to underline their overall dominance over Sri Lanka.
It was India’s ninth win in their last 11 T20Is against the island nation, who last tasted victory against the hosts in July 2024 at Dambulla. India boast of an enviable batting line-up, with different players stepping up in the two games. While newly-appointed Delhi Capitals captain Jemimah Rodrigues starred in the opening T20I, opener Shafali Verma finished the job in the second.
The bowling unit has been equally sharp, with the spinners calling the shots by restricting Sri Lanka to 121 for 6 and 128 for 9 in the two matches. Youngsters N Shree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma and Kranti Gaud have shared the workload effectively, bowling with discipline and control. India’s bowling depth was on display when experienced all-rounder Deepti Sharma missed the second T20I with a mild fever and Sneh Rana stepped up with a frugal 1 for 11 in four overs.
Fielding was the lone area of concern in the opening game, where India dropped five catches, but they showed marked improvement in the second match with three sharp run-outs. Led by Harmanpreet Kaur, India will aim to continue raising their standards as the series moves to Thiruvananthapuram, which will host the next three matches. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will hope that the change of venue brings a change in their fortune for a side battered by back-to-back heavy defeats.
While the gulf in quality has been evident, Sri Lanka will be particularly disappointed by the manner of their batting collapses. Asked to bat first in both matches, Sri Lanka failed to post competitive totals. They showed some promise early on but lost momentum as wickets tumbled in clusters during the latter half of their innings. In the opening game, Vishmi Gunaratne laboured to 39 off 43 balls, while Hasini Perera and Harshitha Samarawickrama also struck under a run-a-ball, denying the innings any late acceleration.
The second T20I followed a similar script. Sri Lanka appeared on track before losing captain Chamari Athapaththu, after which they collapsed spectacularly, losing six wickets for 26 runs, including three run-outs, to finish with another sub-par total. Their bowling, too, has lacked the penetration required to trouble India’s deep batting line-up.
“We had a good power play but lost a couple of wickets, then struggled in the middle overs,” Athapaththu said after the second T20I. “Batters played too much with the horizontal bat, which is an area for improvement. We need to score more than 150 batting first. We are trying to rotate strike, but we need to hit more boundaries.”
The squads:
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Harleen Deol, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh Thakur, Richa Ghosh (WK), G Kamalini (WK), N Shree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma.
Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu (C), Hasini Perera, Vishmi Gunaratne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Nilakshika de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Imesha Dulani, Kaushini Nuthyangana, Malsha Shehani, Inoka Ranaweera, Shashini Gimhani, Nimesha Madushani, Kawya Kavindi, Rashmika Sewwandi, Malki Madara.
