The Indian women continued their impressive form by beating Sri Lanka at County Ground, Derby just finished a few moments ago. Batting first the Indian team scored 232 with contributions from Deepti Sharma, Mithali Raj, VedaKrishnaMurthy and Harmanpreet Kaur. While bowling, all the Indian bowlers did a good job and won the match by 17 runs.
Indian captain Mithali Raj won the toss and elected to bat earlier. Smriti Mandhana and Punam Raut added 21 runs for the first wicket as the left-handed batter was dismissed cheaply for 8 runs. At the end of 10 overs, India scored 37 runs. After the power play overs, Sri Lanka got the wicket the of another opener Punam Raut for 16 runs.
Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma steadied the innings with some tight bowling from Sri Lankan bowlers. Deepti Sharma hit boundaries off spin bowlers. She completed her fifty in 87 balls. Both the batters put on 118 runs for the third wicket before Sharma was dismissed for 78. Raj also completed her fifty in 72 balls. Jhulan Goswami was promoted up the order, as she could only contribute 9 runs. Both Goswami and Mithali Raj were dismissed in quick succession to leave at 169 for 5.
VedaKrishnaMurthy and Harmanpreet Kaur played with positive intent putting pressure on the Sri Lankan fielders. Both the batters added 50 runs in quick time to help Indian women post 232 for 8 in 50 overs.
Chasing the target of 233, Sri Lanka openers Perera and Hansika added 17 runs as Jhulan Goswami took the wicket of Perera. In the first 10 overs, Sri Lankan women scored 29 runs. After that the Indian spinners put pressure on Chamari Atthapathu and Hansika. They did not allow them to score runs with ease.
Punam Yadav took the wicket of Chamara Atthapatu and Hansika to put pressure on them. Siriwardene and Mandora added 60 runs for the fourth but in a slow pace. They took the powerplay in the 36th over scoring 44 in 5 overs. Mandora completed her fifty in 65 balls. She tried her level best but was dismissed for 61. Sri Lanka posted 216 for 7 in 50 overs. India won the match by 16 runs.
In the other two matches, England defeated South Africa, Australia defeated Pakistan
Indian women 232 for 8 in 50 overs ( Deepti Sharma 78, Mithali Raj 53, SS Weerkakoddy 3/28) beat Sri Lankan women 216 for 7 in 50 overs ( Mandora Surangika 61, Punam Yadav 2/23) by 16 runs.
England women 373 for 5 in 50 overs ( Sarah Taylor 147, Beaumont 148, M Kapp 3/77) beat South African women 305 for 9 in 50 overs ( L Lee 72, Wolvaardt 67, D Hazell 3/70) by 68 runs
Australia women 290 for 8 in 50 overs ( EA Perry 66, AJ Healy 63*, Sana Mir 3/49) beat Pakistan women 131 in 50 overs (Sana Mir 45, KM Beams 3/23) by 159 runs
Captain Mithali Raj said: It was a good performance by our spin bowlers in the middle overs that allowed them to score runs at the end. I am thankful that my team has such good openers which allow me to take the time to play my innings.
Player of the match Deepti Sharma said: It was a slow wicket so I have to adjust by batting style according to the situation. Both I and Mithali Raj ran the first one hard which allows us to take the second run.
India is second on the points table. They will face South Africa on 8th July at Leicester.
