Indian women begin ICC Championship with thumping win over Sri Lanka

The Indian women’s cricket team got off to a good start in the ICC Women’s Championship by beating Sri Lanka in a dominating fashion by nine wickets on Tuesday.

The bowlers stood up to the task as they bowled out Sri Lanka for just 98 runs in 35.1 overs before the batswomen chased down the target with ease, scoring 100 runs in 19.5 overs and losing just one wicket in the process.

Medium pacer Mansi Joshi was the best bowler for India as she scalped three wickets while conceding just 16 runs. The veteran Jhulan Goswami, who had announced her retirement from T20 Internationals also starred with figures of 2/13. Poonam Yadav too recorded the same figures.

Apart from this, the spinners too came into the action with Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Dayalan Hemalatha all taking one wicket each.

For the hosts, it was their captain Chamari Atapattu who top-scored with a painstaking 33 runs that came of 93 deliveries.

In response, the Indian batswomen got off to a solid start with openers Punam Raut and Smriti Mandhana putting on 96 runs for the first wicket. The left-handed Mandhana was the most dominant of the two, scoring 73 runs off 76 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. With just three runs required, Raut was dismissed but it didn’t stop the women in blue to complete a dominant win.