Image Credit: twitter.com/@JemiRodrigues
India trounced Sri Lanka by 41 runs in their Women’s Asia Cup debut on Saturday at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, with the right-handed batter Jemimah Rodrigues scoring a T20I career-high 76 runs and the bowlers constantly picking up wickets.
In addition to her game-defining 92-run partnership with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (33) for the third wicket after losing the openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma for a cheap total, Jemimah had a knock of 76 off 53 balls, studded with 11 fours and a six at a strike rate of 143.40. In her drives, she appeared incredibly strong.
After Jemimah was dismissed, though, India’s progress slowed down a bit as they only got 16 runs off the next 14 deliveries to reach 150/6 in 20 overs. In response, Sri Lanka was bowled for 109 in 18.2 overs by Dayalan Hemalatha (3/15), Deepti Sharma (2/15), and Pooja Vastrakar (2/12).
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Before hitting Sugandika Kumari for two fours in the last over of the powerplay, Jemimah took her time. Achini Kulasuriya and Malsha Shehani were then treated similarly, one after the other.
Following the completion of her seventh fifty in T20Is, Jemimah continued to produce a few strokes, such as hitting Inoka for back-to-back fours by pounding over long-on and then sneakily sweeping over the off-side. After a stellar performance at the crease, her stumps were finally broken by captain Chamari Athapaththu’s mistimed shot across the line. After then, India had little control over its circumstances, but it still reached 150.
Malsha and Harshitha were able to lead Sri Lanka to 39/1 in five overs despite Chamari being dismissed by Deepti Sharma. In the penultimate power-play over, Malsha tried to get a quick single by pushing the ball to a backward point, but Deepti immediately collected it and got her short of the crease with a direct hit after executing a 360-degree turn at the bowler’s end.
After two overs, Harshitha was dismissed because of a horrible error. Once Radha Yadav had Anushka Sanjeewani in an lbw trap and Deepti had claimed another victim, it was all one-way traffic until Pooja Vastrakar struck again. Dayalan Hemalatha then finished the game early by picking up three tail wickets.
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