INDW vs SLW 3rd ODI, SLW vs INDW 2022

Chasing 256 for a consolation win, Sri Lanka lost Vishmi Gunaratne early for 3 off 10 balls to Meghna Singh. Chamari Athapatthu took on the Indian bowlers and looked threatening to take the game away from India with her 44 off 41 balls before Kaur got her out. Hasini Perera contributed with 39 runs. Kavisha Dilhari scored 12 off 28 balls. Harshita Madavi contributed with a good 22 runs off 28 balls. Rashmi de Silva contributed with 18 runs but wickets in the middle overs dented the Lankans from which they could never recover. Nilakshi de Silva (48 off 59 balls) and Inoka Ranaweera (10 off 24 balls) showed some fight for the last wicket to push and defy India for the moment but it was too late as India completed the win. 

All the Indian bowlers apart from Renuka Singh were amongst the wickets. Rajeshwari Gaekwad was the pick of the bowlers with her 3-36 in 10 overs, and Meghna Singh chipped in with a couple of wickets in her 7 overs 2-32. Pooja Vastrakar chipped in with a couple of wickets for 33 runs in 7 overs. A wicket for Harmanpreet Kaur as she picked up the wicket of Chamari Athapaththu. Harleen Deol chipped in with a wicket in her 2 overs for 7 runs. Deepti Sharma got a wicket towards the end, but she was expensive going for 47 in 8.3 overs. Renuka Singh bowled 8 good overs for 33 runs as she kept things really tight. 

Earlier in the day, it was the Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu who won the toss and opted to bowl first under overcast conditions with the threat of rain around. Smriti Mandhana looked totally out of sorts as she departed for a 20-ball 6 runs. Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia took the score from 30 to 89 with Verma contributing 49 and Yastika contributing 30. But then India lost wickets in clusters and they found themselves in trouble at 124-6. It was skipper Harmanpreet Kaur who rescued India with a brilliant 75 off 88 balls and giving her company was Pooja Vastrakar who made an unbeaten 56 off 65 balls as she made full use of the dropped chance that was given to her by the Lankans. The 97-run stand propelled India to get to 255-9 as a flurry of wickets couldn’t deter India from crossing the 250-run mark. It was a good score on this pitch.

 From Sri Lanka’s bowling point of view, Inoka Ranaweera was the pick of the bowlers with her miserly spell of 2-22 in 10 overs. Skipper Chamari Athapaththu bowled well in her 8 overs 2-45 as she picked up her counterpart Harmanpreet Kaur. Rashmi de Silva on debut picked up 2 wickets but went for 53 runs in 6 overs as she was guilty of bowling two wides. Kavisha Dilhari bowled 8 overs for 30 runs apart from picking up a wicket. Oshadi Ranasinghe bowled 9 overs with 1 wicket for 42 runs while Kanchana was taken to the cleaners as she went for 63 runs in 9 overs apart from picking up a wicket under his name. She was hit for 40 runs in her first four overs. The Lankans were guilty of bowling 19 extras including 17 wides. That and a few dropped catches have cost the hosts dear in this game. 

So, a win by 39 runs for the Indians to win the series 3-0. Stay tuned for the post-match presentation ceremony that comes your way soon.