Harshitha Samarawickrama and Nilakshi de Silva’s fifties give SL a close victory.

In the Women’s ODI in Colombo on Sunday (May 4), Sri Lanka defeated India for the third time thanks to half-centuries from Nilakshi de Silva and Harshitha Samarawickrama, as well as strong finishes from Anushka Sanjeewani and Sugandika Kumari. Richa Ghosh was the top scorer for India, who amassed a solid 275/9 before being chased down in the last over.

Even though Smriti Mandhana was dismissed for just 18 in the tenth over, India’s batting contributions were distributed across the order after the hosts requested them to establish the total. Before Harleen Deol and Harmanpreet Kaur scored 50 more runs, she and Pranika Rawal still shared a 51-run partnership. Jemimah Rodrigues (37 off 46) and Richa Ghosh (58 off 48) led the charge to advance India through the middle.

The next batter, Deepti Sharma, came to continue the important partnerships that Chamari Athapaththu had broken by catching Rodrigues leg earlier. According to Harmanpreet Kaur, Ghosh’s dismissal in the 44th over was pivotal since India could have advanced significantly with her batting through. India reached a decent 275/9 thanks to contributions from Sneh Rana and Kashvee Gautam.

By the 21st over, the hosts had surpassed 100 runs thanks to a 78-run partnership between Vishmi Gunaratne and Samarawickrama, which drove Sri Lanka’s chase. From this point on, India created a slight wobble as Arundhati Reddy, Rawal, and Rana all scored quickly to cut Sri Lanka from 108/1 to 152/4 in less than ten overs. However, Nilakshi and Kavisha Dilhari responded with a valiant partnership totalling 57 runs off just 6.2 overs. Together, the two hit three sixes and ten fours to swiftly restore the hosts’ dominance.

After Rana hit twice to get rid of Dilhari and Dewmi Vihanga, Sri Lanka was in trouble when Nilakshi’s ferocious 33-ball effort ended in the 43rd over. However, that put Anushka and Sugandika together for the eighth wicket, reducing the chase to only 16 off the final four overs. Anushka hit a four off the first ball of the last over, further reducing that to 2 off 6.

Brief Scores: India Women lost by 3 wickets to Sri Lanka 278/7 in 49.1 overs (Nilakshi de Silva 56, Harshitha Samarawickrama 53, Sneh Rana 3-45) after scoring 275/9 in 50 overs (Richa Ghosh 58, Pratika Rawal 35; Sugandika Kumari 3-44, Chamari Athapaththu 3-43).