India completed a 5-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka in the T20I series, winning the final game by 16 runs. Batting first, India posted 175/7, and while Sri Lanka once again put up a fight, they fell short in the chase.
Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu won the toss and opted to field first. As expected, India tested their bench strength in this game, making two changes. Young left-hander G Kamalini made her debut, while Sneh Rana came in. Smriti Mandhana and Renuka Singh Thakur were rested.
Shafali Verma, after three consecutive innings of maturity and half-centuries, reverted to an old mistake. Nimisha Meepage was introduced in the second over, and Shafali went for a big hit off the first delivery, only to be caught at long-on. That was just the beginning of India’s top-order collapse.
The debutant Kamalini did show promise, hitting an impressive boundary straight down the ground and executing a good sweep, but she was soon dismissed lbw while attempting another sweep. Harleen Deol was then bowled by Reshmika Sewwandi, failing to read the slower ball and losing her leg stump. Richa Ghosh fell to Athapaththu while trying to cut the ball, with a sharp take by her counterpart Kaushani Nuthyangana. When Deepti Sharma departed, also picked up by Athapaththu, India were 77/5 in 10.4 overs.
A captain’s knock from Harmanpreet Kaur and a steady 21 from Amanjot Kaur helped India steady the ship. Harmanpreet looked in fluent touch after a long time and was particularly ruthless against Inoka Ranaweera. She eventually fell for 68. A late onslaught in the final over from Arundhati Reddy, 27 not out off 11 balls, pushed India to 175/7 at the end of 20 overs.
The total seemed chaseable, especially after Sri Lanka’s heroics with the bat in the previous game. All eyes were on Athapaththu and Hasini Perera, but the captain let her side down with the bat. Athapaththu ended the series with 103 runs from five innings at an average of 20.60, including one half-century. After her early dismissal, Perera and Imesha Dulani stitched together a 79-run partnership off 56 balls, with both batters reaching their half-centuries.
Dulani was the aggressor in the partnership and brought up her maiden T20I fifty. However, once she was dismissed for 50 off 39 balls, the responsibility fell solely on Perera to take Sri Lanka over the line. She continued to play a lone hand but began to run out of partners. The decision to send in Kaveesha Dilhari and Nilakshika de Silva did not work, and the chase gradually drifted away.
Sri Lanka’s batting weaknesses were once again exposed. Apart from the two half-centurions, no other batter crossed even the 15-run mark, and they fell short of yet another target.
India ended the series on a high. All of their top four batters registered a half-century in at least one game, while the bowlers consistently picked up wickets, signs that will please the team management. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will take positives from the performances of opener Perera and No. 3 Dulani, but significant work remains in their middle order and bowling unit if they are to compete effectively at the T20 World Cup 2026.
