Thiruvananthapuram : India defeated Sri Lanka by 15 runs in 5th & final T20I at Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, thereby, whitewashing them 5-0.
India Batting first, lost early wickets of Shafali Verma & G Kamalini. Wickets continued to fall on one end, however, captain Harmanpreet Kaur stood tall with heroic knock of 68 (43), comprising 9 boundaries and 1 six. She also put a 61 runs stand with Amanjot Kaur.
After their dismissals, the innings was given perfect finishing touch by Arundhati Reddy, with knock of 27*(11), where she smashed 19 runs off the final over of Malki Madara to post 175-7 (20) on the board.
Sri Lanka chasing 176 runs, lost skipper Chamari Athapaththu early for 7 runs. Suddenly Sri Lanka started looking dominant with brilliant 79 runs stand between Hasini Perera (65) & Imesha Dulani (50).
Dulani was dismissed on 86 runs, Perera kept fighting from one end but the Batting began to fumble at other end as the Lankans kept losing wickets. The visitors were restricted to 160-7 at the end of 20 overs, losing by 15 runs.
Kaur & Verma were awarded Player of the match & series respectively. Deepti Sharma surpassed Meghan Shutt to become highest wicket taker in Women’s T20Is (152 wickets).
Brief Scorecard :
1st Innings :
IND : 175-7 (20)
2nd Innings :
SL : 160-7 (20)
Result : India won by 15 runs.
