Harmanpreet Kaur leads India to thumping win over Sri Lanka

A win of paramount importance for Team India as they handed themselves a huge net run rate (NRR) boost and kept their hopes of reaching the semifinals alive. They put on the highest team total in the T20 World Cup 2024 and secured a comprehensive 82-run triumph against Sri Lanka on Wednesday (October 9) in Dubai. 

Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and sent her side out to bat. This was India's first time batting first in this year's T20 World Cup. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, who had been struggling in the tournament as an opening pair, finally turned up and showed everyone that they mean business. Chamari Athapaththu deployed her spinners early in the power play in an effort to trouble the Indian batting unit. Althrough Shafali and Mandhana did find it difficult to take charge at first, they managed to get themselves settled and went for aggressive shots in the process, with India ending the powerplay on 41 runs without any loss.

Shafali reached a new milestone, becoming the youngest in the world to score 2000 T20I runs. Meanwhile, Mandhana scored India's first half-century in T20 World Cup 2024, which was followed by her getting run out courtesy of Ama Kanchana's throw. India's 98-run opening stand was broken, and just after that, Shafali followed her partner's way back to the dressing room by mistiming her shot and gifting a catching opportunity to Vishmi Gunaratne.

Captain Kaur promoted herself to number three and was tasked to keep up India's solid run rate and finish the innings, with Jemimah Rodrigues joining her after Shafali's dismissal. Playing with an injury, the Indian captain took the aggressive approach right from the beginning. Rodrigues also looked in good form, but lost her wicket in a soft dismissal having scored 16 runs off 10 balls. 

Harmanpreet finished the innings in style, registering an unbeaten 52 runs in 27 balls to her name with eight fours and a six. She also crossed the milestone of 3500 T20I runs. Sri Lanka had to chase 173 runs, the highest target in the tournament so far. 

Renuka Singh Thakur struck instantly for Team India in the opening over. Gunaratne failed to time her shot to perfection, and substitute fielder Radha Yadav made an incredible diving effort to take the catch. Athapaththu, who has been struggling with poor form recently, was removed by Shreyanka Patil in the second over, putting the Asian champions under severe pressure. Renuka got her second prey in the very next over, getting the better of Harshitha Samarawickrama.

Sri Lanka were 28 for 3 at the end of the power play. Asha Sobhana was the next bowler to get the breakthrough as she got rid of Anushka Sanjeewani who hit a couple of boundaries. Anundhati Reddy, who took three wickets and was awarded the Player of the Match against Pakistan, picked up from where she left, claiming two wickets in her second over by sending Nilakshi de Silva and Kaveesha Dilhari back to the pavilion.

Asha hit back with two more wickets, dismissing Sugandika Kumari and Inoshi Priyadharshini. Reddy and Deepti Sharma finished Sri Lanka off by taking out Kanchana and Udeshika Prabodhani. Athapaththu's side was bowled out for 90 runs. 

Captain Kaur was the Player of the Match for guiding India to a competitive team total with a quickfire half-century. Team India climbed from 4th to 2nd in the Group A points table. There is still a chance to qualify for the semifinals, but a lot will depend on their final group stage match against the leaders Australia and New Zealand's remaining fixtures against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. 

Brief scores: India 172/3 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 52*, Smriti Mandhana 50, Shafali Verma 43; Chamari Athapaththu 1-34) beat Sri Lanka 90/10 in 19.5 overs (Kaveesha Dilhari, Anushka Sanjeewani 20; Arundhati Reddy 3/19, Asha Sobhana 3/19, Renuka Singh Thakur 2/16) by 82 runs. POTM: Harmanpreet Kaur