By Srian Obeyesekere
Chasing India Women’s massive 222 target, Sri Lanka Women rose from three previous lows to mounting 191 for 6 off the 20 on skipper Chamari Athapaththu’s whirlwind 52 off 20 overs falling short by 31 runs in turning the fourth T2O into a blockbuster showdown in going down bravely following an Indian 162-tun first wicket onslaught between Smriti Mandhana, 80 off 48 balls in topping the ICC batting charts with an aggregate of 1,703 calendar year runs, and new find Shafali Verma who roared to het third half ton striking 79 off 46 yesterday at Thiruvananthapuran.
Athapathu was at her fighting best striking 3 sixes and equal number of boundaries as Sri Lanka looked poised to go past the Indians when well placed on 140 for 3 by after 15.1 overs with co-opener Hasini Perera a run a ball 33 staging a praiseworthy counter attack with back ups from upfront Imesha Dulani 29, Harshitha Samarawickrama 20 with lower order Nilakshi Silva firing a rapid unbeaten 23 off 11 filled with 4 to the ropes, but the huge target proving too much in the end before the Indians concentrated attack led by Arundhati Reddy 2 for 42, Renuka Singh 2 for 42 and Valshana Sharma 2/24.
India 221 for 2 (Mandhana 80, Shafali 79, Ghosh 40*) beat Sri Lanka 191 for 6 (Athapaththu 52, Perera 33, Vaishnavi 2-24) by 30 runs.