India Women Aim for Clean Sweep Against Sri Lanka in T20I Series

Match Overview

In the fifth T20I of the five-match series, Sri Lanka Women won the toss and opted to bowl first against the Indian team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

The Indian Women’s team enters this match with a perfect record, having triumphed in all four previous encounters against their Sri Lankan counterparts, and they are eager to achieve a 5-0 series victory.

Playing XI

Here are the playing elevens for both teams:

India Women: Shafali Verma, G Kamalini, Richa Ghosh(w), Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Sneh Rana, Arundhati Reddy, Vaishnavi Sharma, Shree Charani.

Sri Lanka Women: Hasini Perera, Chamari Athapaththu(c), Imesha Dulani, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshika Silva, Rashmika Sewwandi, Kaushani Nuthyangana(w), Nimasha Madushani, Inoka Ranaweera, Malki Madara.

Recap of the 4th T20I: India's Strong Performance

In the fourth T20I, the Indian Women showcased an impressive all-round display, winning decisively after scoring 221 runs for the loss of just 2 wickets. The opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma set the tone with a remarkable 162-run partnership. Verma scored 79 runs off 46 balls, while Mandhana contributed 80 runs off 48 balls, marking her as the fourth woman to reach 10,000 international runs.

Late innings fireworks from Richa Ghosh, who scored 40 runs off 16 balls, and Harmanpreet Kaur, who added 16 runs off 10 balls, helped push India past the 220-run mark.

In response, Sri Lanka began strongly with captain Chamari Athapaththu scoring 52 runs off 37 balls and Hasini Perera adding 33 runs off 20 balls. The opening duo put together 59 runs, and Athapaththu formed a vital partnership with Imesha Dulani, who scored 29 runs, to keep Sri Lanka competitive. However, the momentum shifted when Vaishnavi Sharma dismissed Athapaththu, which hindered their chase. Despite some late resistance from Nilakshika Silva, who scored 23 runs off 11 balls, Sri Lanka could not reach the daunting target.

Vaishnavi Sharma and Arundhati Reddy were the standout bowlers for India, each taking two wickets.