Batbricks7

India women managed to stay in contention for a spot in the semi-final of the ongoing Women's T20 World Cup 2024 with a dominant win over Sri Lanka women on Wednesday (Oct 9). India won the match by 82 runs, getting a huge boost in net run rate as well.

Chasing a huge target of 173, Sri Lanka never looked comfortable and were dismissed for paltry 90 runs in 19.5 overs.

Asha Shobna and Arundhati Reddy were India's pick of the bowlers with three wickets apiece for 19 runs.

Apart from them, Renuka Singh picked two wickets while Shreyanka Patil and Deepti Sharma chipped in with one each.

Earlier, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss in the crucial do or die match and elected to bat first in Dubai.

Openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma gave India a brilliant start and added 98 runs for the first wicket.

This was also the 20th fifty-plus partnership between Mandhana and Verma in T20Is the joint most in history along with the Australian pair of Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy.

Both Mandhana and Verma, however, departed on consecutive balls in the 13th over after scoring 50 and 43 runs, respectively.

Skipper Kaur, who came in to bat at number three, then added 30 runs in 21 balls for the third wicket with Jemimah Rodrigues before Ama Kanchana dismissed the latter in the 17th over on a team score of 128.

Kaur then showed a range of shots and exemplary batting in the death overs as India scored 44 runs in the remaining 22 balls.

Kaur remained unbeaten on 52 off just 27 balls, hitting eight fours and one six as India finished on 172/3 in 20 overs.

For Sri Lanka, it was their third straight loss in three matches which made sure they no longer qualify for the semis from Group A.

India, on the other hand, would have to win their next game against the mighty Aussies and hope for other teams' results to go in their favour to make it to the semis.