India crush Sri Lanka by 97 runs in women’s Tri-Series final

India justified their ranking as hot favourites when they crushed Sri Lanka by 97 runs in the Servo Cup final of the women’s Tri-Series at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.

The tournament, also involving South Africa, was part of the build-up to the women’s ODI World Cup in India in five months’ time.

India’s captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, said: “I’m proud of the entire team, they really played good cricket. I’m particularly happy with the way we batted today. The need to improve never stops though. The way the other batters performed, apart from Smriti (Mandhana) and me, was a big positive, as was Sneh Rana’s performance with the ball. There are a lot of positives to talk about but I just want to enjoy the moment right now.”

The Indian women outplayed the hosts in all departments on yet another steaming hot day in Colombo. Winning the toss and batting first, India compiled 342 for seven wickets, the biggest total in ODIs between the countries and the first time that the 300 mark had been breached. This was largely due to a superb century from player of the match Smriti Mandhana and some useful contributions from their power-hitting middle-order.

Mandhana was dropped on 21 and two other catches went down in a ragged performance in the outfield by the hosts, a problem that has persisted throughout the tournament.

In reply to India’s intimidating total, Sri Lanka got off to a poor start when opener Hasini Perera was bowled by Amanjot Kaur with the third ball of the innings. Vishmi Gunaratne and skipper Chamari Attapaththu added 68 off 80 balls for the second wicket to rebuild the innings before Gunaratne was bowled round her legs by Kaur, falling for 36. There were then two consecutive fifty partnerships between Athapaththu and Nilakshika Silva and then Silva and Harshita Samarawickrama, but both were nipped in the bud when they were looking to flourish.

Attapaththu, in particular, was a key wicket for the Indians as she went down the pitch to offspinner Sneh Rana but only succeeded in yorking herself. She was the top run-scorer for Sri Lanka with 51 in 66 balls but her innings was simply not enough, or fast enough, to give her team any hope of victory.

With an Indian victory assured in the last 10 overs, Anushka Sanjeewani and Sugandika Kumari got in some useful batting practice without suggesting that victory was a possibility as the Sri Lankan innings folded for 245 in 48.2 overs.

Player of the series Rana was once again excellent for India with 4/38 in 9.2 overs, finishing as the top wicket-taker with 15 scalps. South Africa’s Annerie Dercksen was the leading run-scorer with 276 runs.

Earlier, elegant left-hander Mandhana, a woman’s version of Sourav Ganguly, struck 15 fours and two sixes in her innings. A feature was her elegant drives on both sides of the wicket, whether lofted or along the ground.

India, having won the toss and opted to bat first on a slowish but otherwise excellent pitch for batting, made a solidly conservative start with Mandhana and Pratika Rawal (30 in 49 balls) compiling 70 in the 15th over before Rawal chipped Inoka Ranaweera to mid-on where Piumi Wathsala made amends for earlier dropping Mandhana, diving forward to complete the catch.

Mandhana was then joined by Harleen Deol. While Deol began slowly, Mandhana unfurled a lovely array of strokes to dominate their second-wicket partnership of 120 in 106 balls.

The left-hander went to her century in spectacular fashion, sweeping three consecutive fours off Athapaththu in the 31st over. She didn’t last much longer, spooning a drive to point off Dewmi Vihanga who had impressed earlier in the tournament with a five-wicket haul against South Africa. This time she also collected wickets but her 2/69 was expensive.

Deol then chipped a return catch to Vihanga to depart for a solid 47 in 56 balls, but skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues both played aggressively, striking 41 in 30 balls and 44 in 29 balls respectively to take India past 300. Amanjot Kaur (18 in 12 balls) and Deepti Sharma (20* in 14 balls) maintained the momentum to ensure that India reached a commanding total.

SRI LANKA: Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Hasini Perera, Harshita Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Piumi Wathsala, Nilakshika Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Dewmi Vihanga, Malki Madara, Sugandika Kumari, Inoka Ranaweera

INDIA: Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Jemima Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Shree Charani, Amanjot Kaur, Kranti Goud