Bharath Ramaraj in Dubai
India put their best foot forward in the crucial World Cup tie against Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Stadium, winning by a massive margin of 82 runs. The victory also helped India surpass New Zealand in terms of Net Run-Rate. Shafali Verma (43), Smriti Mandhana (50) and Harmanpreet Kaur (52 not out) were the cornerstones of India’s victory. The bowlers also shone brightly under lights as Sri Lanka folded for just 90. To make it even better, India’s fielding too was quite sharp.
So, what went right for India? The foundation stone was set by the openers. For a while, Mandhana and Shafali struggled a touch to find their batting rhythm on a slow track. Mandhana, in particular, seemed to be muscling the ball too much. In fact, after five overs, Shafali was on 24, with Mandhana on six. The turning point for Mandhana came in the sixth over, when the left-hand batter cleared her front leg and landed a sublime shot down the ground.
In the very next over, she skipped down the track and deposited Inoka Ranaweera into the stands. It was a clear indicator that Mandhana had gauged the conditions and it was time to ramp up her gears. Mandhana cracked three more boundaries, before she was run out on the back of a mix-up with Shafali. India then went on to lose wickets off successive deliveries, with Shafali eking out a leading edge to the point fielder. By then, India were 98 for 2 in the 13th over.
Jemimah Rodrigues built on the foundation, scoring 16 off 10 deliveries. However, it was Harmanpreet who played the X-factor innings for India. The feature of her knock was that she didn’t get flustered by a few dots. The way Harmanpreet crunched a couple of shots in the ‘V’ in the final over encapsulated her knock. Even a near-yorker from the experienced Udeshika Prabodhani was not enough to prevent Harmanpreet from using her strong forearms to slam one down the ground.
With India’s final score reading 172 for 3, it felt as if they were on top. When Shreyanka Patil imparted enough overspin and dismissed Chamari Athapaththu, it seemed like the result of the match was more or less a foregone conclusion. Some credit has to go to the think-tank and Mandhana, the acting captain, for starting with Renuka Singh and Shreyanka. Arundhati Reddy, Asha Sobhana and Renuka were the chief wicket-takers. Arundhati once again impressed, taking a three-for.
Something else would gladden the hearts of the Indian management: Radha Yadav taking a running catch after putting in a dive to remove Vishmi Gunaratne. Renuka herself pouched an excellent catch to send Kavisha Dilhari back to the hut, Meanwhile, Richa Ghosh continued to showcase her skills behind the stumps, effecting a quick stumping to dislodge Anushka Sanjeewani. In a nutshell, the Indian players played without fear and the outcome was a thumping win.
Compared to the India-Pakistan game, there weren’t many fans around when Mandhana and Shafali walked out to bat. But as the game progressed, it looked like enough cricket addicts had turned up. There were a decent number of Sri Lankan fans too. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much to cheer about, with their team bowing out of the tournament. When Sri Lanka lost their sixth wicket, a few tears were rolling down Chamari’s eyes. And that basically summed up Sri Lanka’s timid effort.
Brief Scores: India 172/3 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 52*, Smriti Mandhana 50; Ama Kanchana 1-29) beat Sri Lanka 90 in 19.5 overs (Kavisha Dilhari 21; Asha Sobhana 3-19, Arundhati Reddy 3-19) by 82 runs.