Smriti, Shafali dazzle as Women in Blue go 4-0 up with 30-run win in 4th T20I
Thiruvananthapuram: An all-round India rode on Smriti Mandhana (80) and Shafali Verma’s (79) record partnership followed by spinner Vaishnavi Sharma’s impressive 2/24 to beat Sri Lanka by 30 runs in the fourth women’s T20I and take a 4-0 lead in the five-match series here on Sunday.
After Mandhana and Shafali set the platform for India’s highest women’s T20I total of 221/2 with the highest partnership of 162 for any wicket,
Vaishnavi bowled an impressive 4-0-24-2 to help the home side record a commanding win.
Chasing a mammoth 222, Sri Lanka came out firing with Hasini Perera (33 off 20 balls, 7 fours) and skipper Chamari Athapaththu (52 off 37 balls, 3 fours and 3 sixes) providing the early fireworks.
But the target proved too much for the island team to manage, as they lost wickets in a flurry towards the end to finish at 191 for six in their 20 overs.
Earlier, Mandhana and Shafali produced a batting masterclass after India were asked to bat first, hammering the Sri Lankan bowlers all around the Greenfield International Stadium. Their 162-run opening stand, achieved in just 15.2 overs, became India’s highest partnership for any wicket in women’s T20Is.
Mandhana reached a significant milestone during her fluent knock, becoming only the fourth woman batter to complete 10,000 international runs. Shafali continued her red-hot form with a third successive half-century of the series, narrowly missing a maiden T20I hundred.
Late cameos from Richa Ghosh (40* off 16 balls) and Harmanpreet Kaur ensured India surged past the 200-run mark. The fifth and final T20I will be played here on December 30.
