Indian women register a thrilling 7-run win in the 2nd ODI to win series against Sri Lanka 

The Indian women held their nerves beating Sri Lanka by 7 runs in the ICC Women’s Championship to win the series played at Galle International Stadium, Galle on Thursday. Batting first, thanks to Mithali Raj (52), Tanyia Bhatia (68), Hemalatha (35), Shikha Pandey (14), India eves posted a decent total. Chasing the target, the hosts Sri Lanka had hopes of winning but fell short of the target.

Indian captain Mithali Raj won the toss and decided to bat first. Smriti Mandhana (14) and Punam Raut(3) were dismissed in quick succession to leave India at 18 for 2. Harmanpreet Kaur also could not score big runs as she was caught and bowled by Weerakkody for 7 runs. Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma steadied the innings with a 30 run stand for the 4th wicket. Deepti Sharma could only contribute 12 runs.

The Indian captain Mithali Raj took time while Tanyia Bhatia played with positive intent, putting pressure on Sri Lankan bowlers. Raj reached her half century off 116 balls. Both Raj and Bhatia added 76 runs for the 5th wicket before Mithali was dismissed for 52. Bhatia continued to play aggressive strokes reaching her maiden half century off 53 balls. Bhatia and Hemalatha added 37 runs for the 6th wicket, and then Bhatia was dismissed for a well made 68 off 66 balls.

Shikha Pandey and Hemalatha put on 37 runs for the 7th wicket. Hemalatha impressed with stroke play scoring 35 off 31 balls. In the last over, 4 Indian wickets fell to be bowled out for 219 in 50 overs. For Sri Lanka, Chamari Atapattu was the pick of bowlers with 3 for 42 in 8 overs.

Chasing the target 220 to win, the Indian team struck in the 5th over as Mansi Joshi dismissed Weerakkody for 11. In the first 10 overs, Sri Lanka lost 2 wickets for 40 runs. The Sri Lankan captain Atapattu and Siriwardene steadied the innings with a brilliant partnership of 89 runs for the 4th wicket. Chamari Atapattu reached her half century off 75 balls. A brilliant run out by Shikha Pandey dismissed Siriwardene for 49, and Atapattu was soon dismissed for 57 by Shikha Pandey.

Weerakkody played some wonderful strokes and added 31 runs with Sanjeevani. Weerakkody and Sanjeevani were dismissed in quick succession to leave Sri Lanka at 165 for 7. de Silva came to the crease with attacking strokes, adding 40 runs for the 8th wicket with Prabodhani. Gayawkad dismissed Prabodhani for 7, and with 13 runs off 18 balls required , Mansi Joshi dismissed de Silva for 31 off 17 balls.

Deepti Sharma dismissed Ranaweera to end the match. Indian women bowled out Sri Lanka for 212 in 48.1 overs.

With this win, India earned 2 more points and also won the series. The third match will be played on 16th September at Katunayake.