Smriti Mandhana © Gallo Images
Opener Smriti Mandhana struck her 11th ODI hundred to lead India’s women to 342 for seven, their highest total against Sri Lanka, in the Servo Cup final of the women’s tri-nations tournament at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.
The elegant left-hander, a woman’s version of Sourav Ganguly, struck 15 fours and two sixes in her innings. A feature was her elegant drives on both sides of the wicket, whether lofted or along the ground. India’s total breached the 300 hurdle for the first time in ODIs against Sri Lanka.
India, having won the toss and batted first, made a solidly conservative start with Mandhana and Pratika Rawal (30 in 49 balls) compiling 70 in the 15th over before Rawal chipped Inoka Ranaweera to mid-on where Piumi Wathsala made amends for earlier dropping Mandhana on 21, diving forward to complete the catch.
Mandhana was then joined by Harleen Deol on a slowish, tame wicket where the batters needed to acclimatise before launching. While Deol began slowly, Mandhana unfurled a lovely array of strokes to dominate their second-wicket partnership of 120 in 106 balls.
The left-hander went to her century in spectacular fashion, sweeping three consecutive fours off Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu in the 31st over. She didn’t last much longer, spooning a drive to point off Dewmi Vihanga.
Deol then chipped a return catch to Vihanga to depart for a solid 47 in 56 balls, but skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues both played aggressively, striking 41 in 30 balls and 44 in 29 balls respectively to comfortably take India through the 300 mark.
Amanjot Kaur (18 in 12 balls) and Deepti Sharma (20* in 14 balls) kept up that momentum as India struck 89 off the last 10 overs to ensure a commanding total.
The Sri Lankan bowling was innocuous with all the bowlers expensive. Madara, Vihanga and Sugandika Kumari claimed two wickets each. The outfielding was improved, although three catches went down.
SRI LANKA: Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Hasini Perera, Harshita Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Piumi Wathsala, Nilakshika Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Dewmi Vihanga, Malki Madara, Sugandika Kumari, Inoka Ranaweera
INDIA: Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Jemima Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Shree Charani, Amanjot Kaur, Kranti Goud
