India women beat Sri Lanka to seal semi-final berth against Pakistan
The Indian womenâs team bounced back from a surprise defeat against Bangladesh as they beat Sri Lanka to seal a semi-final spot against Pakistan at the 2018 Women's Asia Cup. India beat the Sri Lankans by seven wickets as the latter were bowled out for a paltry total of 107 runs.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka Women 107/7 in 20 overs (Hasini Perera 46; Ekta Bisht 2-20) lost to India Women 110/3 in 18.5 overs (Veda Krishnamurthy 29; Nilakshi de Silva 1-12) by seven wickets
The Indian womenâs team began the 2018 Womenâs Asia Cup by an emphatic win against home team - Malaysia as they managed to bowl out the hosts for a measly total of 27 as India won by a huge margin of 142 runs. They followed that win with another against the Thailand womenâs team by a margin of 66 runs. But in the next match, they suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of the Bangladesh womenâs team after a brilliant knock by Fargan Haque.
However, Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. bounced back from their initial setback to beat the Sri Lankan team at the Royal Selangor Club, Kuala Lumpur. In doing so, the Indians sealed a spot in the semi-final of the tournament whilst also setting up a tie against Pakistan for a final berth.
Batting first, Sri Lanka made their way to 50 for 1 around the 10-over mark, before they began to crumble. The spin trio of Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, and Anuja Patil ensured that the Sri Lankan middle-order did not make their way to double figures throughout the match. Sri Lanka managed to get to 107/7 from 20 overs with Ekta Bisht being the pick of the bowlers as she notched up 2 wickets while giving away just 20 runs.
In the second innings, the Indian opening duo of Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj broke at the 20-run mark, but a decent knock of 24 runs by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and top-scorer on the day Veda Krishnamurthy came in and polished off the remaining runs in brisk fashion along with Anuja Patil.
In doing so, the Indian cemented their place at the top of the table while also setting up a tie against Pakistan in the semi-final of the tournament.
