INDW v SRIW | Sri Lanka get consolation win against India in final ODI

Sri Lanka opted to field first was and looked to have made the right decision as Udeshika Prabodhani sent Jemimah Rodrigues to the pavilion on only the second ball of the day. It slowed the game considerably as Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj tried to steady the ship early on before coming on aggressively. India brought up its 50 in the 10th over with both the batsmen well settled at the crease. Mandhana brought up her fifty ten overs later and just as it seemed that the partnership was unbreakable, the southpaw gave away her wicket reducing the team to 102/2. 

Though Harmanpreet Kaur did try to bring in normalcy coming next, she could add only 45 more runs alongside Raj over the next 11 overs before losing her wicket. Dayalan Hemlatha came next but could only survive six balls and scoring as many runs. Raj was standing helplessly at one end when Deepti Sharma came to her rescue. Together they had a partnership of 92 runs and Raj getting her seventh ODI ton in the process. Deepti made a handy 38 runs before the experienced Jhulan Goswami came to end India at 253/5 with Raj remaining unbeaten at the other end.

Chamari had brought up her ton in the 37th over and tried going for the big shots. Her adventurous self soon got the better of her as she was removed by Hemlatha in the 43rd over with Sri Lanka reduced to 206/4. With just 48 runs needed in seven overs, Imalka Mendis, Nilaskhi de Silva, and Shashikala Siriwardene, all lost their wickets in quick succession to put more pressure on the team. And just when Sripali Weerakkody and Dilani Manodara looked to get it right with their calm singles play, India got late lifeline through Manodara’s careless runout.  While everyone pinned their hope on Sripali to take her side home amidst a crumbling tail end, it was Kavisha Dilhari’s two late boundaries that eventually won Sri Lanka the game with one ball to spare.