India women lead the T20 series 1-0 against Sri Lanka

India eves had an amazing outing at Ranchi when they took on Sri Lanka in the first of the three match T20 series. Winning the toss and electing to bat first, Mithali Raj-led team put up a defendable total of 130-6 in 20 overs, thanks to solid batting performances of southpaw Smriti Mandhana (35 runs off 27 balls) and India’s aggressive bat Harmanpreet Kaur (36 runs off 41 balls).  Both these players played their shots, stole singles and hit the odd-boundaries, thereby making it difficult for the visitors. A quick cameo from Anuja Patil (22 not out off 17 balls) towards the end of the innings was a cherry on the cake as she helped the hosts go past the 120-run mark. Sugandika Kumari was the pick of the bowlers as she finished off with 3-28 in her four overs.

Sri Lanka did not get off to the best of starts as the visitors were found wanting in their run chase. Both the openers were back in the dug-out inside three overs, courtesy Anuja Patil’s aggressive bowling right at the start. Dilani Manodara fought hard for her unbeaten knock of 41 runs which came in 44 balls, but could not find an able ally. Sri Lanka was restricted to 96-7 in 20 overs, thus falling short of 34 runs.

India leads the three-match series 1-0 and the second T20 will be played on Wednesday at Ranchi.

Brief Scores: India Women 130-6 in 20 overs (S Mandhana 35, H Kaur 36, A Patil 22*; S Kumari 3-28, E Lokusuriyage 2-19) beat Sri Lanka Women 96-7 in 20 overs (D Manodara 41*, S Siriwardena; A Patil3-14, D Sharma 2-23) by 34 runs

source:www.cricket.com.au