Smriti Mandhana fuels batting masterclass as India-W romp over Sri Lanka in 4th T20I

Trivandrum witnessed a batting onslaught of the highest order as India snatched another emphatic win to go 4-0 up in the five-match T20I series. A clinical show with the bat allowed the Women in Blue to chronicle their highest-ever score in T20Is while the bowlers kept things under control as the hosts emerged victorious.

Winning the toss, Sri Lanka opted to bowl first. The Indian opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma hunkered down to business from the word ‘go’. The first ball of the innings raced away to the fence as Mandhana opened her account with a push down the legside.

Things started picking up pace with Smriti and Shafali firing on all cylinders as India posted a solid 61 from the powerplay. It only went from strength to strength for Team India as the duo brought up a hundred-run stand in just 10.5 overs. Verma shifted to the fifth gear after the powerplay, completing her fifty in just 30 balls.

Despite Mandhana slowing down a bit after the first six overs, she was soon back to her intimidating best against Rashmika Sewwandi in the 12th over, smashing her for 15 runs to bring up her half-century from just 35 balls. Mandhana brought up her fifty with a lofted drive over mid-off as India were cruising at jet speed. Mandhana also joined an elite club of cricketers, becoming only the fourth-ever woman to go past the mind-boggling feat of scoring 10,000 international runs.

Mandhana (80) and Verma (79) added 162 runs for the opening stand, which became the highest first wicket partnership for India in WT20Is, breaking their own record of 143 runs. Much to India’s shock, however, they lost two of their openers in quick succession with Nimasha Meepage getting rid of Verma while Malsha Shehani removed Smriti Mandhana.

With less than five overs to go when Verma was dismissed, India promoted Richa Ghosh up the order. The decision to bring in Ghosh early reaped handsome dividends as the Women in Blue totted up a staggering 221/2, breaking all of their record high scores in WT20Is. Richa Ghosh smashed 40* off 16 balls, clobbering four fours and three sixes, striking at a massive rate of 250.

Sri Lanka, well aware of the fact that if they were to chase down the massive total of the board, needed a head start. They turned to two of their best, Chamari Athapaththu (52) and Hasini Perera (33), and the duo got the visitors off to a solid start.

The duo added 59 runs in the first six overs before India could apply the brakes. Arundhati Reddy got rid of Perera to rattle the opening stand. However, that did very little to dampen the Lankan spirits as their captain, Chamari carried on with the charge. Joined by an incoming Imesha Dulani (29) who looked in good control in the last game, the duo added another 56 runs for the second wicket. Yet, with the gap between the scoring rate and the number of balls remaining to shoot down the total growing, Sri Lanka needed a move on.

That is what led to the Indian bowlers reining the game back in with a handful of economical overs. Alongside the frugal bowling effort, a handful of wickets also helped India’s cause. At the end of 20 overs, Sri Lanka could only rack up 191 runs, falling short of the finish line by a staggering 30 runs.

Arundhati Reddy and Vaishnavi Sharma claimed a couple of wickets each while Sree Charani picked a wicket too, despite getting a touch too expensive. Mandhana bagged the Player of the Match award for her rollicking start which provided India with the much-needed platform up top.