Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur during IND vs SL - 2nd T20
Led by Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, India defeated Sri Lanka in the 2nd T20 by five wickets to seal the series on Saturday.
Smriti Mandhana's (39 off 34 balls) experience complemented by the exuberance of both Shefali Verma (17 off 10 balls) and Sabbhineni Meghana (17 off 10 balls) helped India chase down the 126-run target in 19.1 overs.India stuttered in what should have been a comfortable run chase before Harmanpreet took India home with an unbeaten 31 of 32 balls.
Sri Lanka squandered a fine start to post a below-par 125 for seven. It was a day to remember for Mandhana, who became the second-fastest Indian woman to reach 2,000 runs T20 runs.
Mandhana reached the feat in her 84th innings, becoming the third Indian woman after the legendary Mithali Raj (70 innings) and current skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (88 innings) to cross the mark.
Opting to bat first and with the series on the line, it was the duo of captain Chamari Athapaththu (43 off 41 balls) and Vishnu Gunaratne (45 off 50 balls) who provided an ideal start for the Lankans by the taking the Indian bowlers to the cleaners.
The duo also put up Sri Lanka's best opening stand (87) in T20s to leave the Indians frantically rummaging for breakthroughs. However, as both Athapaththu and Gunaratne departed, it was a sorry state of affairs for Sri Lanka as they lost a slew of wickets, only managing an underwhelming total.
Deepti Sharma (2/34 in 4 overs) was certainly the best bowler on view while the likes of Radha Yadav and Pooja Vastrakar also helped India claw back with the ball.
The third and final T20 will be played at the same venue - Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla, on Monday.
(Inputs PTI)
