India 172 beats per 3 (Harmanpreet 52*, Mandhana 50, Shafali 43, Athapaththu 1-34) sri lanka 90 (Dilhari 21, Sanjiwani 20, Reddy 3-19, Asha 3-19) 82 runs.
Shafali, Mandhana remind us what India is missing.
Before Wednesday, India had played 18 and 11 matches against Pakistan and New Zealand respectively. In a tournament where batting first appears to favor the team, India finished second in both matches. India batted first after Harmanpreet won the first toss and the openers began their task steadily.
Mandhana finally hit left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari on the head and India ended the powerplay on 41 for 0. She also hit a six over wide long-on off another left-arm spinner, Inoka Ranaweera, the following year. Gear change. India hit at least one four in each over between the third and ninth innings. Chamari Athapaththu kept India guessing by giving the bowlers a one-over spell until the 13th over, by which time Mandhana had edged Shafali to reach his fourth T20 World Cup half-century.
Harmanpreet greetings from number 3
There were limits to ending India’s opening partnership at 98, the third highest in a T20 World Cup. Athapaththu and Ama Kanchana (brought in to replace Hasini Perera) combined to catch Mandhana short for 50. The very next ball, Athapaththu Shafali was at fault to swell to cover. This meant that Athapaththu ended his single-order strategy and bowled his second over (13th and 15th over) in the spell.
Harmanpreet, who batted at number 4 against Pakistan, moved up to number 3 and was soon joined by Jemimah Rodrigues before even facing the ball. There are few batsmen in the Indian lineup who are more comfortable against spin than Rodriguez. She used the sweep to first keep Ranaweera away and then moved the crease to pull Athapaththu into the deep square leg boundary.
At the other end, Harmanpreet hit Kumari for a four and a six to ensure that the opener’s platform was not wasted. Rodrigues soon scored a 16 out of 10. She came to life on 13 when Kavisha Dilhari dropped a dolly at deep midwicket, but was instrumental in injecting momentum after two quick wickets.
By then, Harmanpreet had loosened up following a long batting line-up. She rowed Kanchana’s short fine leg first before hitting two fours to spoil Athapaththu’s shame. Ranaweera was unable to hold on to Harmanpreet’s powerful cover hit when he was 22 years old. She hit Kanchana and Prabodhani for two fours each in the last two overs, registering only her third half-century in T20Is since the 2023 T20 World Cup. That 52 not out from 27 balls helped India remove 46 from the last four overs, the most by any team in this T20 World Cup.
She retired after suffering a neck injury against Pakistan and came to the toss with a pain-relieving patch on the right side of her neck, but was declared fit for the match. However, she did not play in the chase as Mandhana captained the team.
sri lanka chase
Ahead of the T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka recorded the most wins since April last year and its win-loss ratio was better than India and Australia. It would have been a little premature to knock them out of the 173-run chase in Dubai as they were in the hunt for 166 to win their first Asia Cup. But India has made money from the beginning and has never sniffed it.
An athletic effort from Harmanpreet’s replacement Radha Yadav on the second ball of the chase set the tone. She ran back to the right from back point and dived her full length to catch Vishmi Gunaratne’s mistake. Mandhana handed the new ball to Shreyanka Patil at the other end ahead of Deepti Sharma. Patil pushed one a little faster and made it spin, eliciting a defensive, hard thrust from Athapaththu that brought the edges together and caused it to slip. The challenge was almost lost when Renuka Singh hit Asia Cup final star Harshitha Samarawickrama with an outside edge in the third over.
Legspinner Asha joined the party in the middle overs and picked up three wickets using a sharp spin that allowed the batsmen to return. Her biggest wicket was that of Anushka Sanjeewani, who along with Dilhari was the enforcer for the fourth wicket in the 37th over. After floating a few balls to the batsman, Asha pulled a length ball to fool the Sri Lankan wicket-keeper and Richa Ghosh hit her. Asha and Reddy, who were man-of-the-match against Pakistan, attacked regularly through the middle overs. Both had identical figures of 3 for 19, with Reddy’s effort creditable after being picked out for 12 in the first over. Sri Lanka finished the tournament with double-digit scores in three consecutive games.
It was an outing that boosted India’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals ahead of their final league match against Australia on Sunday.
S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Sudarshanan7
