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Ranchi: Anuja Patil produced a cameo with the bat and then took three wickets to guide the Indian women cricket team to a 34-run win over Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 international on Monday. (India Retain Australia Series Winning Squad For Women’s WorldT20)
With this victory, the Indian team take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20 series. (Indian Women’s Team Defeats Sri Lanka to Seal ODI Series)
Opting to bat, India posted 130 for six and then managed to restrict Sri Lanka to 96 for seven in 20 overs.
India did not have an ideal start as they lost skipper Mithali Raj (3) and V R Vanitha (12) early to be reeling at 15 for two in four overs.
But responsible batting by Smriti Mandhana (35) and Harmanpreet Kaur (36) put India eves back on track. Anuja provided the final flourish after coming in to bat at No.6. She hit three fours during her 22 that came off 17 balls.
Left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka. She accounted for the top three and ended with figures of three for 28.
Chasing a modest target, Sri Lanka lost opener Yasoda Mendis for eight with Anuja striking in the very first over. In her second over, Anuja returned to dismiss the other opener Chamari Atapattu for a duck to reduce the visitors to 13 for two.
The other Indian bowlers Shikha Pandey, Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma capitalised on the early strikes and ensured that Sri Lanka batters never settled down.
Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Dilani Manodara was the only one who offered some resistance with a crucial 41 off 44 balls that included three hits to the fence.
The next-best score was captain Shashikala Siriwardene’s 18 off 29 balls.
Even as Anuja finished with career-best figures of three for 14, each of the Indian bowlers came up with an economy rate of under 5.80.
Source: NDTV