India moved to second place on the points table in Group A as they overhauled the net run rate of Pakistan and New Zealand together, hammering Sri Lanka by 82 runs. Renuka Singh Thakur, Asha S and Arundhati Reddy starred with the ball for the Women in Blue with the ball, with Radha Yadav doing the job in the field.
Another one bites the dust as Ama Kanchana ran out of steam and gave Arundhati Reddy her third wicket of the night and Radha Yadav her third catch of the day.
Ama Kanchana has hit a couple of boundaries and India's aim to get a 91-plus runs win is slowly coming to an end. A 91-run win would have helped them get their NRR above Pakistan but it isn't happening now.
Wickets continue to fall in Dubai as Indian bowlers give no breathing space to Sri Lanka. Another brilliant fielding effort as Richa Ghosh takes a good catch behind off Asha Sobhana's delivery.
Sugandika scored 1 run off 4 balls.
SL - 61/7 in 13 overs.
Renuka Singh takes a brilliant diving at fine leg to end Kavisha Dilhari's fighting innings off Arundhati Reddy. Two wickets in an over and it's all but over for Sri Lanka.
Kavisha scored 21 runs off 22 balls.
SL - 58/6 in 12 overs.
Arundhati Reddy claims her first wicket of the game to dismiss Nilakshika Silva who scored 8 runs off 13 balls. India are on course for a big win in Dubai.
SL - 57/5 in 11.4 overs.
Sri Lanka need 116 runs in 50 balls to win the game.
Asha Sobhana strikes in her first over to give India a much-needed breakthrough with Richa Ghosh contributing with a brilliant stumping.
Sanjeewani scored 20 runs off 22 balls. Nilakshika Silva joins Kavisha Dilhari in the middle.
SL - 46/4 in 9 overs.
Sri Lanka need 127 runs in 66 balls to win the game.
Smriti Mandhana is marshalling the troops for India as regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur is off the field after batting through the innings.
India need a win of 45-plus runs to get ahead of New Zealand's net run rate. Hence, India need to stop Sri Lanka to 127 or below.
Renuka Singh Thakur has struck against as Sri Lanka are going down here without a fight. An away-swinging delivery and Harshitha Madavi had a poke at it, the outside edge is safely held by Richa Ghosh and Sri Lanka are losing the plot here.
Chamari Athapaththu has departed as India have gotten a huge wicket of the Sri Lankan skipper. Shreyanka gets overspin on the ball, which turns away from the left-hander, Chamari had opened the face of the bat and that turn was enough to take the outside edge and this is a body blow for Sri Lanka. A huge wicket.
Sri Lanka - 5/2 (2 overs)
Radha Yadav might have pulled off one of the best ever catches in women's cricket. Yes, Harleen Deol's catch is part of history but in a T20 World Cup match when India desperately need their bowlers to fire, Radha Yadav has plucked a sensational catch to get rid of Vishmi Gunaratne. Sri Lanka lose an early wicket.
India have finally turned on the heat as a batting unit. After vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, captain Harmanpreet Kaur smashed a quickfire 27-ball fifty to end the innings on a high as India got to a huge score of 172, the highest of the tournament so far.
Ama Kanchana strikes now as another wicket goes down for India as Jemimah Rodrigues hit straight to the backward point fielder and the Women in Blue are three down. But Memimha did play a quick 10-ball 16 cameo to take things forward for India.
India needed skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues to bat patiently for a couple of overs but both of them took their chances, which came off.
One brings two as captain Chamari Athapaththu is making things happen for Sri Lanka. Shafali Verma departs now and India have lost both their openers in quick succession.
Sri Lanka have gotten their first wicket as Smriti Mandhana has gotten out immediately after getting her fifty. There was indecision and they decided very late to run and eventually Smriti was late to her crease as the throw came on the non-striker's end.
India are 98/1 now.
India's vice-captain has struck form when the team needed the most. Smriti Mandhana recovered from a slow start to smash a 36-ball fifty as India are really looking at a big score now.
India are coasting along now. It was a cautious start from both Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, but they have recovered and the latter in particular has gone ballistic to hand India advantage after the 10-over mark.
India - 78/0 (10 overs)
Smriti Mandhana has finally started to find her feet as she is really going after the Sri Lankan bowlers and now has hit the first six for India in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Can India turn on the heat now as the partnership is 50 up now?
Powerplay has ended on a high note for the Indian team with Shafali and Smriti smashing a boundary each as India get to 41 after the first six overs. The start has been good but still work-in-progress.
The start has been a bit cautious from the Indian openers, probably because of the lack of confidence as they lost early wickets in both their previous games. Shafali has finally started to fire but Smriti Mandhana is struggling and finding fielders against the spinners.
Shafali Verma chips it over the covers for India's first boundary of the match on the 14th ball. Both Shafali and Smriti have been a bit cautious in their approach after having suffered twice in the last two games, losing early wickets.
The anthems are done, the Sri Lankan team is on the field and Indian openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma are in the middle as they look to give the Women in Blue a good start.
Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian captain, confirmed that she was doing better after that blow on the neck in the game against Pakistan. Mentally, Harman said that she would feel much better if India come up with an improved show against Sri Lanka.
Playing XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Sajeevan Sajana, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh
Playing XI: Vishmi Gunaratne, Chamari Athapaththu(c), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani(w), Ama Kanchana, Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoka Ranaweera
Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bat first. Harman reckoned that the team hasn't batted first yet in the tournament and will be keen to put runs on the board and put pressure on the opposition. Sri Lanka's Chamari Athapaththu also wanted to bat first saying that the wicket looked slow and might be harder to bat in the second innings.
Australia with their 60-run win against New Zealand, helped India a lot more than they did themselves a few days ago. New Zealand's run rate came spiralling down from +2.9 to -0.050 and India now will be keen to get that right on Wednesday.
Skipper Chamari Athapaththu mentioned in the pre-match press conference that she was questioning her form herself and was keen to put it to bed against India. India lost to Sri Lanka when the two teams last faced each other in the Women's Asia Cup final and a revenge will certainly be on their mind.
Smriti Mandhana and Arundhati Reddy didn't brush aside the NRR talks but the vice-captain before the match was sure about the team's focus - to win first and if there is an opportunity, then push for the NRR situation. Sri Lanka might have lost both their games, but they won't be pushovers.
Sri Lanka have already lost a couple of games, India were handed a shocker in the opening game by New Zealand and loss for either team on Wednesday in Dubai might throw their chances of qualifying in the dustbin. India came back strongly in the second game against Pakistan. However, the Women in Blue weren't able to make up for the loss Net Run Rate and that would be their focus. Welcome to our live coverage of IND-W vs SL-W T20 World Cup match.
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