They say yesterday is dead and gone, and tomorrow is another day. For team India, their last outing by a far superior women’s team in comparison to host Sri Lanka tagged as underdogs will remain in the memory of India for future reference.
On views that matter, myt guest was Roshan Abeysinghe renowned voice of Sri Lanka Cricket and president of Ragama Sports club, who have nurtured many national players.
He stated 276, a target set by the Indian lassies is a challenging total in the women 50 over game.
The target that India achieved according to Abeysinghe was note worthy because it did expose their batting talent up to number 11, and this was a pertinent ability that made them to the top 3 in ICC ladies ranking.
Smriti Mandhana needs no introduction. Parika Rawal, who replaced Indian star
Shefali Varma, according to Abeysinghe he states she is Indias best batter who made 35. Jemima Rodriguez, the middle order queen, contributed with 37, Harmanpreet Kaur 30, in the middle with Ricah Gosh 58, contributed 160 runs of the 275 total. Where did the balance 115 runs come from ?
The answer is Smriti Mandhana. Unfortunately, ran herself out for 18 , Haleem Doel 29 Deepthi Sharma 24, and a lower order punch of 17 from Keshav Gautam 17 , all batters into double figures.
This proves their batting depth. Sangeetha Kumari and Chamarie Attapathu accounted for 6 scalps, but the total India made was match winning, especially in womens cricket.
Why was this a herculean target for Sri Lankan batters ? Roshan Abeysinghe stated it is challenging on a spinners surface.
India is blessed with three wicket taking spinners, namely Sneha Rana, Deepthi Sharma, and New kid on the blocks Charani.
Their seamers got a bit of a tap , but the Indian spinners had 80 % control with the trio controlling the run flow.
Remember, Sri Lanka was way below the clock on 121 for 3 wickets in 27.1 overs , slumped to 152 for 4 wickets in 33rd over with the dismissal of Chamarie Atapaththu, hence 124 in 17 overs was not impossible but challenging against an Indian deciplined bowling attack.
Harshitha Samarawickrema did the hard yards in her knock of 53. Vishmi Gunaratne slowed off the blocks on 33 , missed Chamarie Attapathu as she opted to bat at number 4 , hence, the winning looked a distance in terms of what Sri Lanka had in the bank.
All this changed. The Indian seamers brought into the attack lacked the experience with Nilakshi de Silva stroking 56 and Kavisha Dilhari a calculated 35.
Sri Lankan batters improvised with reverse sweeps and a few unorthodox strokes taking the Indian lassies by shock.
Sri Lanka reached the target with the aid of the tail when Nikakshi de Silva departed for a well-made 56 with Sri Lanka stil ln the woods with 7 down for 238 runs in the 43rd over.
Had Indian seamers done the job by scalping the 3 tailenders with 38 runs to defend, we would be reading a different script.
Credit to Sri Lanka, the tailenders did the job.
Great great win to state the least. Critics from the Indian Media lamented that team India missed their 3 regular seamers due to injury , but the bottom line is that you compete with what you have in the park.