Sri Lanka had a topsy-turvy start to their run chase of 271 runs in 48 overs, DLS method. Kranti Gaud was quite lethal in her opening spell as she castled Hasini Perera and gave India a much-needed breakthrough in a steep run-chase for Sri Lanka. Kranti Gaud was seen bowling immaculate lines & lengths, which troubled Sri Lanka women batters massively.
Kranti Gaud provides the key early breakthrough in power play
Sri Lanka had their task cut out as chasing 271 runs, which is close to 6 runs per over, wasn’t going to be an easy one. Chamari Athapathu, along with Hasini Perera, had to lay down a near-perfect foundation and needed a 60-70 runs powerplay and make sure that one of them bats long and deep in the run chase.
At the end of 6 overs, Sri Lanka was looking quite steadfast in the run chase, with the score being 29-0. Kranti Gaud was bowling the 7th over and was smashed for a boundary on the second ball of the over as Hasini Perera was slowly getting into the groove. On the 4th ball of the over, Kranti Gaud bowled a peach of a delivery and uprooted Hasini Perera’s stumps.
Harshitha Madavi didn’t waste time getting her eye as she was quick to cash in on opportunities. Sri Lanka had a decent power play where they scored 45-1 in 9 overs. We can say Sri Lanka lost a wicket, but the required run rate didn’t go past 7 runs per over and most importantly, they had their slipper Chamari Athapathu on the strike, which was ultimate.
Chamari Athapathu & Harshitha Madavi build up a partnership
Chamarti Athapathu, along with Harshitha Madavi, were smashing an odd boundary and kept on rotating the strike. Chamari Athatpathu was happy stepping down the track and playing her audacious shots. The way Chamari Athapathu took on Deepti Sharma in the 13th over was remarkable, as in that over, the Sri Lankan skipper smashed a four and a six in that over.
Just at the brink of drinks break, Deepti Sharma foxed Chamari Atapathu and castled her stumps by bowling a full-length delivery which surprised her. The partnership between Chamari Athapathu & Harshitha Madavi was looking promising as their 52 runs in 50 balls could have drifted the game more in favor of Sri Lanka. India’s score was 82-2 in 15 overs.
Shree Charani gets rid of the set Harshitha Charani
The middle overs phase proved to be a daunting and testing one for Sri Lanka. The dismissal of Chamari Athapathu dried up the boundaries completely for Sri Lanka. Vishmi Gunaratne was seen blatantly struggling to rotate the strike against spinners. Harshitha Samarawickrama was fighting a lone battle as the surface all of a sudden was spinning massively and deteriorating.
The condition for Sri Lanka went from bad to worse as in the 23rd over, Harshitha Samarawickrama was duped by Shree Charani. Shree Charani was bowling the 23rd over, on the 3rd delivery, the ball kept low, and she was trapped. Sri Lanka, all of a sudden, was stranded at 103-3 in 22.3 overs. Harshitha’s knock of 29 runs wasn’t that efficient as Sri Lanka’s score was 103-3 in 23 overs.
Who’s winning, India or Sri Lanka
India emerges as the red-hot favorite to win the match, as Sri Lanka requires more than a Herculean effort to win the match. The peculiarity of India is that they have variety in their bowling attack, as a couple of more wickets can take them close to a win. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, needs 168 runs to win from 24 overs as their batters can’t afford to play the waiting game anymore, and smashing boundaries won’t be easy as India is most likely to win the opening match of the ODI WC 2025.
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