India’s women made sure that they had the best possible preparation for the ICC Women’s World T20 by scampering to an eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in their second and last warm-up game at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.
Set 126 to win, India won with 13 balls to spare as Smriti Mandhana, who made a 52-ball 73 against Ireland, came good again, scoring an unbeaten 42 off 28 balls. Opener V. Vanitha also accounted for a brisk 37.
India was off to a sedate start. Off the first nine overs only 45 runs came. Mithali Raj tried to force the issue but was stumped on 23.
But the 11th over opened the flood gates. Eighteen came off Nilakshi de Silva’s bowling including two wides that fetched 10 runs in all. From there on, the Indian women scored at close to nine an over to finish things off.
For Sri Lanka, more than the result, its captain Shashikala Siriwardene’s fitness would be of concern as she couldn’t take the field after she was stretchered off following a hamstring pull while being stumped out.
The scores: Sri Lanka 125 for four in 20 overs (Dilani Surangika 43 n.o.) lost to India 128 for two in 17.5 overs (V. Vanitha 37, Smriti Mandhana 42 n.o.)
Ireland 74 for nine in 20 overs (Rumana Ahmed four for 12) lost to Bangladesh 79 for two in 12.3 overs (Sharmin Akhter 36 n.o.).
