India Women vs Sri Lanka Women, Highlights, ICC Women's T20 World Cup: Shafali, Radha power India to a seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka

The Indian spinners, this time led by Radha Yadav, once again set up an easy win for India after tying Sri Lanka down to 113 runs in 20 overs in the first innings and then in the chase it was the usual suspect, Shafali Verma, who came out swinging in her typical style and took the match away. The Lankans didn’t grab their chances in the field, which was paramount while defending a low score, but alas they put down Verma a couple of times and allowing her to play her strokes and from thereon there was no coming back. They suffered their third defeat in as many as games, while India on the contrast have completed all their group games with a win.

Harmanpreet Kaur, India captain: It is very important to continue to the momentum when you are winning games. You really work hard, so you can’t afford to lose that momentum. I think they understood the wicket very well. You can’t bowl same pace and lengths on these wickets, so you need to keep rotating the bowlers. Today I tried to be positive and got some boundaries. In the upcoming games I’ll try to give my best.  She [Verma] is someone who loves to play big shots and we don’t want to stop her and if she is enjoying and that is cricket, if you are enjoying then continue doing it.

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu: I think that the total was not enough on this wicket. We dropped a few chances, especially of Shafali Verma and we couldn’t stop her ultimately. I wanted to stay there till the 17th or 18th over but it was not to be. We hope our batting unit steps up in our next game against Bangladesh.

Radha: I was just thinking to bowl stump-to-stump and keep it simple. As a bowling unit we did really well and hope we continue to do that in the semis. I was thinking of bowling stump-to-stump and nothing else. She (Poonam Yadav) is a legend [laughs].

Radha Yadav for her 4/23 is named Player of the Match

That’s it! India beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets. Easy win for Harmanpreet Kaur-led side in Melbourne as they make it four wins out of four matches to top Group A.

India will enter the semi-finals as the only team that is yet to experience a defeat.

India 116/3 in 14.4 overs, ( Jemimah Rodrigues 15 , Deepti Sharma 15)

Deepti Sharma with the winning runs as she bends and deploys a sweep towards backward square leg fence.

After 14 overs,India Women 109/3 ( Jemimah Rodrigues 13 , Deepti Sharma 10)

Jemimah must thank her stars to still be out there in the middle after the Sri Lankan captain put down an absolute sitter after she chipped it mid wicket. Formalities remaining, just four more runs needed.

After 13 overs,India Women 104/3 ( Jemimah Rodrigues 10 , Deepti Sharma 8)

Rodrigues collects her first boundary of the innings as India procure nine risk-free runs to trickle down the required number of runs in single digits. They just need nine more to maintain their 100 % win record in group stages.

FOUR! That’s a delightful stroke from Jemimah! Leads with her head, leans into the textbook cover drive, plays it into the gap and takes India past the 100-run mark

After 12 overs,India Women 95/3 ( Jemimah Rodrigues 3 , Deepti Sharma 6)

Dilhari is back into the attack. She does get the ball to turn and bounce a touch to create doubts in the mind of the batswomen. Deepti earns a boundary as India close in on 100-run mark.

Need 18 to win.

FOUR! Deepti Sharma goes low her knees and drags the ball to wide long on boundary to pick up her first boundary.

After 11 overs,India Women 89/3 ( Jemimah Rodrigues 2 , Deepti Sharma 1)

Some relief for Sri Lanka, even though it has come belatedly for them as they finally see the back of Shafali Verma. Deepti Sharma is the new player to come out to bat. Rodrigues is also new to the crease but the task ahead of them is barely challenging. 

India require 24 runs off 54 balls.

OUT! Shafali Verma falls agonisingly short of a well-deserved half-century and what will hurt her is the mode of her dismissal. Jemimah bunts towards mid-on and sets off for a run. Shafali was ambling across the pitch however, both Rodrigues and Verma were about to collide mid pitch, which led to further issues and didn’t have enough time to recover, change her path and slide her bat into the crease. Top knock, tame finish.

Shafali Verma run out (Madavi/Anushka Sanjeewani) 47(34)

After 10 overs,India Women 86/2 ( Shafali Verma 46 , Jemimah Rodrigues 1)

A boundary to start the over, followed by couple of wides and then finally Sri Lanka taste some success as they snuff out Harmanpreet Kaur’s wicket. Jemimah Rodrigues comes out to bat and is off the mark with a single, Verma is across her stumps again to pull the ball towards long leg, but fails to connect but the keeper was ducking and taken her eyes off the ball to stop it from running away for four byes.

India need 27 more runs to win

OUT! Harmanpreet Kaur perishes, searching for a big one down the ground, the Indian captain swipes but was never quite close to the pitch of the ball to play the shot and hence she gets the height but not the distance. Caught at long on. 

Kaur c Hansima Karunaratne b Siriwardene 15(14)

FOUR! To counter Siriwardene’s slow pace, Verma jumps across her stumps, in fact she has gone behind the stumps to pull the ball to long leg fence.

After 9 overs,India Women 74/1 ( Shafali Verma 41 , Harmanpreet Kaur (C) 15)

Kavisha Dilhari is introduced into the attack and Verma thrashes her first delivery to cover fence. A good comeback after the initial boundary, giving away just three runs off the next four balls.

FOUR! Short in length and Verma she thrashes it powerfully through the covers for another boundary, right at the start of the over.

After 8 overs,India Women 67/1 ( Shafali Verma 34 , Harmanpreet Kaur (C) 15)

Harmanpreet Kaur now gets a chance to free her arms and unleash some of her shots. Athapaththu taken to the cleaners from her opposite number, the over costs 15 runs.

FOUR! Kaur huffles across her wickets and slog sweeps it to mid wicket boundary. That’s three boundaries in a row.

SIX! More trouble for Lankan bowlers! A full toss not helping their cause as Kaur pulls to send the ball sailing over backward square fence for a six.

FOUR! That is nicely done by the captain! Width on offer and Kaur cuts through backward point. In the gap and that’s the first boundary for Kaur.

After 7 overs,India Women 52/1 ( Shafali Verma 33 , Harmanpreet Kaur (C) 1)

Prabodhani lines up a tidy over as Kaur looks to get her eye in. Only three singles came from the over as India cross the 50-run mark.

After 6 overs,India Women 49/1 ( Shafali Verma 31 , Harmanpreet Kaur (C) 0)

Verma takes full advantage of the last over of the fielding restrictions, smacking a couple of boundaries along with a maximum. India on the cusp of fifty and are fast running away with the game. Siriwardene’s first over is carted for 15 runs.

FOUR! She’s in the zone now! Down the pitch and even though the ball is bowled wider and she doesn’t get to the pitch of the ball, she goes after it and gets enough meat to send the ball to long off fence.

SIX! The Shafali show is on! Flighted delivery and slightly fuller in length too, Verma launches it straight over the long off boundary. Cleared the fence with consummate ease.

FOUR! How good is that!! Shafali Verma sees the ball is dropped slightly short and rocks on her back foot and then somehow creates enough power to blast it over mid-off. Couple of bounces and into the fence.

After 5 overs,India Women 34/1 ( Shafali Verma 16 , Harmanpreet Kaur (C) 0)

Prabodhani is back into the attack and she claims the first wicket for the Lankans. Mandhana’s poor tournament continues. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur has promoted herself to come out and bat at number three.

OUT! Prabodhani provides the first breakthrough for Sri Lanka! Kavisha Dilhari ensures she holds on to the catch this time around and Mandhana has to make the walk back to the pavilion. The ball was pitched up and Mandhana this time preferring to go over mid on, doesn’t get the timing or the elevation right, ends up skewing a catch to the mid on fielder.

Mandhana c Kavisha Dilhari b Prabodhani 17(12)

After 4 overs,India Women 33/0 ( Shafali Verma 15 , Smriti Mandhana 17)

Chamari Athapaththu brings herself into the attack. In what was shaping out to be a good quiet over is ruined with a boundary off the final ball of the over to spoil it for Sri Lanka.

FOUR! Mandhana once again targets the long off fence, she gets one in the range outside the off stump and she has lifted this very wide to the right of the mid off fielder.

After 3 overs,India Women 27/0 ( Shafali Verma 14 , Smriti Mandhana 12)

After Verma, Mandhana, joins the fun, lifting couple of boundaries to the long off region. Earlier in the over, Verma was again dropped by Sandeepani off her own bowling. Her first over costs 11 runs. India are off to a flier!

FOUR! Successive fours for the left-hander. She has hit this one on wide of the mid off fielder, giving no chance. India are in a hurry.

FOUR! Mandhana comes down the track and just gets it over the mid off fielder. There were cries of ‘catch it’ and the fielder was certainly in play, but the ball just out of grasp. First boundary for Mandhana.

After 2 overs,India Women 16/0 ( Shafali Verma 13 , Smriti Mandhana 2)

Shashikala Siriwardene to share the new ball. Mandhana skews one off the outside edge that fortunately for her bounces a couple of times before the short third man fielder, giving her time to change ends. However, Sri Lanka have a massive moment early in the match with the opportunity of sending Verma back in the pavilion but the extra cover fielder puts down a rather simple chance, she might have been distracted with the fielder from cover-point crossing her eyeline but it should have been still taken. Verma was never going to look back as she pummels couple of boundaries in the over.

FOUR! Shafali shimmes down the wicket and lifts it just over the leaping mid off fielder. Risky, but this is how she plays and it has come off in the tournament so far and it is still coming good.

FOUR! Shafali Verma shuffles across the stumps, bends low and pulls it fiercely through mid wicket for her second boundary of the innings.

After 1 overs,India Women 6/0 ( Shafali Verma 5 , Smriti Mandhana 1)

Quality shot first up from Verma to get herself and India underway, caressing a drive through covers. She turns the strike over with a single off the fourth ball. Mandhana, too, is off the mark with a nice looking drive through covers, but with protection available in the deep, it is kept down to a single.

FOUR! Shafali and India are away! Floaty half-volley outside off and Shafali is up and running with a stylish cover-drive to the boundary. That’s the shot of a player in form! No stopping that.

Time for the chase!

Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma amble out to the middle. The latter will be on strike and will be aiming to extend her in-form run, while Mandhana, on the other hand, would be hoping to get some valuable time and runs out in the middle before the business end of the tournament.

Left-arm swing bowler, Udeshika Prabodani, is ready with the ball in hand. The wicket-keeper is up to the stumps.

After 20 overs,Sri Lanka Women 113/9 ( Kavisha Dilhari 25 , Udeshika Prabodhani 2)

The responsibility of the last over has been given to pacer Shikha Pandey. Pandey cleans up Sandeepani on the first ball of the over.The keeper drops Prabodhani , who got an outside edge while playing a cut on the second delivery. Ends her over with a length ball and gets smacked for a four by Kavisha Dilhari. Sri Lanka have managed to put 113/9 on the board. India will be happy, they did well to contain the Lankans.

FOUR! A boundary of the last ball of Sri Lanka’s innings from the blade of Kavisha Dilhari, who smacked the ball towards long-on.

Out! Shikha Pandey bowling wicket to wicket there. Sandeepani just trying to run it down to third man but misses. 

Sandeepani b Shikha Pandey 0(1)

After 19 overs,Sri Lanka Women 104/8 ( Kavisha Dilhari 18 , )

Poonam Yadav into the attack and she hasn’t picked up a wicket so far. That’s strange going by the lofty standards she’s set for herself. Poonam tosses up the first two deliveries and concedes a single each from them. The batters are trying to get the big shots in but the pitch is slow and it isn’t coming on to the bat that well. She removes Nilakshi de Silva on the last ball of the over. Finally a wicket for Poonam. Five runs and a wicket in the over.

OUT! Beautifully tossed up delivery from Poonam, Nilakshi looking to go over mid wicket for a biggie. But there was no timing on that one and the ball went straight to skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. 

Nilakshi de Silva c Kaur b Poonam Yadav 8(12)

After 18 overs,Sri Lanka Women 99/7 ( Nilakshi de Silva 7 , Kavisha Dilhari 14)

Deepti Sharma comes in to bowl her last over. Starts off with two good length deliveries outside off that spun into the batter. Excellent fielding by Harmanpreet Kaur at covers. Indians are giving it their all in the fielding department here. Six runs off the over.

Consecutive Women’s T20Is where a bowler picked up atleast a wicket:

23 – Radha Yadav*
23 – Megan Schutt

After 17 overs,Sri Lanka Women 93/7 ( Nilakshi de Silva 5 , Kavisha Dilhari 10)

Shikha Pandey comes in to bowl the 17th over. The keeper has been called up — an attempt to put pressure on the batter. Pandey strays in her line and length on the second ball of the over and she concedes a four. Nine runs from the over.

Four! Shikha erring in her length, that was down the leg side and Kavisha Dilhari scoops it towards the fine leg fence.

After 16 overs,Sri Lanka Women 84/7 ( Nilakshi de Silva 3 , Kavisha Dilhari 3)

Radha Yadav into her last over. Massive appeal for LBW by Radha off the first delivery against Anushka, who has to walk back to the pavilion. Fourth wicket for Radha, her best T20I figures as of now, what a spell it has been from her. Four runs from the over.

OUT! Bowling wicket to wicket has worked for Radha Yadav as she picks up Anushka Sanjeewani, who departs after being given LBW by the umpire. 

Anushka Sanjeewani lbw b Radha Yadav 1(3)

After 15 overs,Sri Lanka Women 80/6 ( Nilakshi de Silva 2 , Anushka Sanjeewani (W) 1)

Gayakwad comes in to bowl her last over. Tough position this for Sri Lanka, half their side is already back in the pavilion. Gayakwad tosses up the fourth ball of the over and gets rid of Siriwardene, who holes out to Veda Krishnamurthy at long-on. Four runs off the over.

OUT! Again tossed up delivery from Gayakwad, who cramped Siriwardene for room there. Siriwardene hits it straight to Veda Krishnamurthy at long-on. 

Krishnamurthy b Gayakwad 13(12)

After 14 overs,Sri Lanka Women 76/5 ( Shashikala Siriwardene 12 , Nilakshi de Silva 0)

Radha Yadav back into the attack and she removes Hansima Karunaratne on the fourth delivery of the over. Good over that — three runs and a wicket from it.

OUT! Radha staying nice and straight, attacking that middle and leg stump. Hansima Karunaratne times it well but it goes straight down the fielder’s throat at long on. 

Hansima Karunaratne c Krishnamurthy b Radha Yadav 7(19)

After 13 overs,Sri Lanka Women 73/4 ( Hansima Karunaratne 6 , Shashikala Siriwardene 10)

Rajeshwari Gayakwad back for third over. Starts off with a good length ball outside the off stump. Then goes short and Hansima rocks back, plays the pull to collect two runs. Ouch! She drops Hansima on the fifth ball of the over. Concedes a four on the last ball of the over. Seven runs off the over.

FOUR! Siriwardene thumps the ball over mid-off for a boundary. Straight boundaries are being targeted here.

After 12 overs,Sri Lanka Women 66/4 ( Hansima Karunaratne 3 , Shashikala Siriwardene 6)

Poonam Yadav comes into the attack for her third over. She’s bowled well so far but doesn’t have a scalp to her name. Pitches the third ball short and gets smacked for a four by Siriwardene. This over fetches six runs for the Lankans.

FOUR! Siriwardene dances down the track and smokes it towards mid-on for her first boundary.

After 11 overs,Sri Lanka Women 60/4 ( Hansima Karunaratne 2 , Shashikala Siriwardene 1)

Radha Yadav returns. Bowls the second ball short and wide outside off — Perera makes the most of it, picking up a boundary. Gets rid of Perera on the next ball itself. Eight runs and a wicket in that over.

OUT! Good length delivery from Radha and the ball took the edge of Hasini Perera and went straight into the keeper’s hands.

Hasini Perera c Bhatia b Radha Yadav 7(9)

FOUR! Short outside off and Hasini Perera steers it towards third man for a boundary.

After 10 overs,Sri Lanka Women 52/3 ( Hansima Karunaratne 2 , Hasini Perera 1)

Poonam Yadav back for her second over. Starts off with a nicely tossed up delivery and Hansima chips it over the bowler’s head, just out of Poonam’s reach. Tidy over that, just the two runs off it.

After 9 overs,Sri Lanka Women 50/3 ( Hansima Karunaratne 1 , Hasini Perera 0)

Radha Yadav, left arm orthodox comes into the attack. Gets smacked for a huge six by Chamari on the second ball of the over. Comes back on the third ball and removes Chamari, who was looking dangerous but found the fielder at backward square leg. Eight runs and a wicket in the over.

OUT! Chamari looking to clear the fence. Short from Radha and Chamari hits it straight to Shikha Pandey. Big wicket this. 

Athapaththu c Shikha Pandey b Radha Yadav 33(24)

SIX! Out of the park. Chamari gets down on one leg and slog sweeps it over the mid-wicket fence for a biggie.

After 8 overs,Sri Lanka Women 42/2 ( Chamari Atapattu (C) 27 , Hansima Karunaratne 0)

Rajeshwari Gayakwad returns and she cleans up Madavi, who was in two minds there but the ball took an inside edge and dislodged the stumps. Maiden over that plus a a wicket from it.

OUT! Rajeshwari Gayakwad cleans up Madavi. Madavi was uncertain whether to play it on the backfoot or frontfoot. The ball takes an inside edge and crashes into the stumps.

After 7 overs,Sri Lanka Women 42/1 ( Chamari Atapattu (C) 27 , Harshitha Madavi 12)

Poonam Yadav, India’s standout bowler, comes into the attack. She has bamboozled the batters with her leg spin in the tournament. Tosses up the first three deliveries and all the Lankans can do at the moment is rotate the strike. Concedes a four of the last delivery. Seven runs in the over.

FOUR! Short and wide outside the off stump. Athapaththu rocks back and cuts it through point.

After 6 overs,Sri Lanka Women 35/1 ( Chamari Atapattu (C) 22 , Harshitha Madavi 10)

Deepti Sharma back for her third over. She has been effective against Chamari Athapaththu, who has done the bulk of the scoring for the Lankans so far. Bowling it wicket to wicket, which brings the LBW dismissal into play. Good over that, just three runs in that one.

After 5 overs,Sri Lanka Women 32/1 ( Chamari Atapattu (C) 22 , Harshitha Madavi 8)

Rajeshwari Gayakwad, left arm orthodox, comes into the attack and gets thrashed for a four by Chamari on the third ball of the over. That apart, tidy over, seven runs off it.

FOUR! Chamari on fire. She gets down on one leg and sweeps that delivery from Gayakwad square of the wicket for herr fourth boundary.

After 4 overs,Sri Lanka Women 25/1 ( Chamari Atapattu (C) 16 , Harshitha Madavi 7)

Pandey returns for her second over. Gives width outside the off stump on the first ball and gets smacked for a four by the in-form Chamari. Pandey concedes another boundary on the last ball of the over, again from Chamari’s blade. Eleven runs off the over.

FOUR! Overpitched and Athapaththu hammers it over mid-off for a boundary. Stand and deliver.

Shikha Pandey in this Women’s World T20: 

3/14 v Aus W
2/14 v Ban W
1/21 v NZ W

FOUR! Width outside the off stump and Chamari guides it towards deep backward point for a boundary.

After 3 overs,Sri Lanka Women 14/1 ( Chamari Atapattu (C) 11 , Harshitha Madavi 1)

Deepti Sharma returns for her second over and gets rid of Umasha on the very first delivery of the over — it was a well flighted delivery and the batter got tempted to play the big shot. Good over that, two runs and a wicket from it.

OUT! 

Deepti Sharma gets the first breakthrough for India. She tosses it up and Umasha looks to go down the ground for a big shot but ends up slicing it towards backward point. 

Umasha Thimashini c Gayakwad b Deepti Sharma

After 2 overs,Sri Lanka Women 12/0 ( Umasha Thimashini 2 , Chamari Atapattu (C) 10)

Shikha Pandey, right-arm medium, comes into the attack. Pandey nailed her yorkers in the death overs against New Zealand. Right on the money with her lengths on the first four deliveries. Gets smacked for a four by Athapaththu on the last ball of the over. Six runs from the second over.

Four! Pandey overpitches and Athapaththu takes the aeria route, smacking the ball down the ground for a one-bounce four.

After 1 overs,Sri Lanka Women 6/0 ( Umesha Thimashini 1 , Chamari Atapattu (C) 5)

Deepti Sharma starts the proceedings with the ball for India against Sri Lanka’s Umasha Thimeshani. Sharma starts off with a dot, a good length delivery.Just errs in her line and length on the fourth ball of the over and concedes a four from the blade of Athapaththu. Six runs off the first over.

FOUR! Down the leg side and Athapaththu sweeps it. Gets an under edge and the ball races way towards the fine leg fence.

Deepti Sharma will bowl to Sri Lanka opener Umasha Thimeshani. And we are underway.

Right then, time for the national anthems.

Straight boundaries are longer here and with the Australian summer and a game already done, a score around the 130-run mark would be par. Besides, India played their last game here so they will know what to expect from the pitch. 

–  Pitch Report by Lisa Sthalekar

India have a 13-3 win/loss record against Sri Lanka in T20Is while it’s 3-1 in Women’s World T20.

The last time when India lost a T20I match against Sri Lanka was back in 2014 at Sylhet. They have played 10 matches since then, India won nine of them while one was ended in a no-result.

India have won each of the three matches in this T20 World Cup while batting first.

Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu(c), Umesha Thimashini, Hasini Perera, Hansima Karunaratne, Shashikala Siriwardene(w), Harshitha Madavi, Anushka Sanjeewani, Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Sathya Sandeepani, Udeshika Prabodhani

India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Taniya Bhatia(w), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

TOSS UPDATE – Sri Lanka have won the toss against India and they will bat first.

Ahead of the Sri Lanka clash, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur made her intentions clear, saying that they will not take their final group game lightly. To read more, click here

As with India’s other outings, it was their bowling attack which came to the rescue in their thrilling 4-run win over New Zealand. However, Radha Yadav’s entry meant that the attack got its fourth spinner. With just one pacer in the squad in the form of Shikha Pandey, there remains a question over India’s four-spinner strategy. Read more

The Lankans are already out of the semi-final race, having lost in both their previous outings — against New Zealand (by 7 wickets) and Australia (by 5 wickets).

A defeat wouldn’t do any damage to the Indians, who are already through to the semis. But they definitely have a few things to worry about, especially their below-par show with the bat, going into the business end of the tournament. Read the match preview here .

After sealing their spot in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup, Indian women’s team will aim to end the group stage on a high as they face Sri Lanka at the Junction Oval in Melbourne.

They are unbeaten in the tournament so far and will look to maintain the run against Sri Lanka.

We will get you all the updates from the match so stay tuned.