Smriti Mandhana does it again for Women in Blue to beat Sri Lanka in the warm-up game

Smriti Mandhana seems to be in sublime form as she scored another fantastic knock against Sri Lanka on Saturday in a warm-up match at Bengaluru. Batting first the island nation posted 125-4 in 20 overs, thanks to a well-constructed innings of wicketkeeper-batswoman Dilani Manodara. Manodara remained unbeaten on 43 off 35 cherries, smacking four boundaries and a six. Eshani Lokusuriyage played a cameo towards the end scoring 34 runs off 20 balls, finding the fence six times. For the hosts, it was Deepti Sharma who bowled well to grab 2-4 in two overs and received good support from Shikha Pandey and Poonam Yadav, who picked up one wicket each.

Southpaw Mandhana, who came in to bat at no.3 started from where she had left in the previous game against Ireland. The 19-year old seems to be enjoying her purple patch as she raced to score 42 runs off just 28 deliveries hitting five boundaries and a six. India openers Mithali Raj (23 runs off 33 balls) and Vellaswamy Vanitha (37 runs off 34 balls) provided a solid start to the run-chase. Harmanpreet Kaur also chipped in with a run a ball 12 run innings to finish off the game in style. Udeshika Prabodhani and Sugandika Kumari were the wicket-takers with one wicket apiece. The hosts chased down the target in 17.5 overs, winning the match by eight wickets.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka Women 125-4 in 20 overs (D Manodara43*, E Lokusuriyage 34*; D Sharma 2-4) lost to India Women 128-2 in 17.5 overs (S Mandhana 42*, V Vanitha 37, M Raj 23) by 8 wickets

Source: www.dnaindia.com