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Shafali Verma-Smriti Mandhana's record stand gives India Women series-clinching win over Sri Lanka

Star openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana shared a record opening stand after Renuka Singh's maiden four-wicket haul as the Indian women's cricket team hammered Sri Lanka by 10 wickets to win the second ODI.

Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana. Image: ICC

Pallekele, July 4: Star openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana shared a record opening stand after Renuka Singh's maiden four-wicket haul as the Indian women's cricket team hammered Sri Lanka by 10 wickets to win the second ODI and also clinched the series here at Pallekele on Monday (July 4).

Mandhana (94*) and Verma (71*) helped the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side take an unassailable 2-nil lead in the three-match series. The Women in Blue also got two crucial points taking their total to four in the ICC Women's Championship 2022-25.

Chasing a target of 174 wasn't going to a challenging one in front of a dominant batting line-up of and the visitors overhauled it inside 26 overs. Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma started out cautiously but soon abandoned that approach to take on a more aggressive role.

India's fifty came up in the ninth over and from there the duo did not look back. It helped that Sri Lanka were poor in the field and both batters had a couple of chances put down.

Soon after her fifty, Mandhana accelerated with Verma playing her shots at the other end as they raced to complete a win without losing a wicket.

smriti mandhana

Their 174-run stand is the fifth-highest partnership for India in women's ODIs and the highest against Sri Lanka.

In only her fourth ODI, Renuka Singh Thakur put up a stunning performance, ably assisted by Meghana Singh, to bowl out Sri Lanka for a sub-par total. Thakur had picked up three wickets in the first match with the hosts folding for a similar total of 171.

Thakur got to work soon enough, dismissing three Sri Lankan wickets under seven overs. Meghana took the all-important scalp of Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu as the hosts were reduced to 42/4 in the 16th over. Meghana also dismissed Nilakshi de Silva crippling Sri Lanka further.

Run-outs didn't help either as India's fielding was mostly on point barring a few lapses. Anushka Sanjeewani and Kavisa Dilhari were both run out and Deepti Sharma cleaned up the tail with the wickets of Inoka Ranaweera and Achini Kulasuriya.

A tight bowling performance meant that Sri Lanka were able to hit only 11 fours in their innings as they were bowled out for 173.

Sri Lanka's total of 173 would have been even lower if not for Ama Kanchana's gritty resistance. Kanchana, who came in at No.7 when Dilhari got out in the 25th over had a tall ask with only 81 runs on the board.

She went on defending, concentrating on saving her wicket but kept the scoreboard ticking with timely singles. Without taking any undue risks, she hit a couple of boundaries and slowly inched towards her half-century. She shared a stabilising 42-run seventh-wicket stand with de Silva.

Unfortunately, she ran out of partners and was left stranded on 47*.

Story first published: Monday, July 4, 2022, 18:49 [IST]
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