India Dominate Sri Lanka with a Comprehensive 82-Run Victory in T20 World Cup 2024
India defeated Sri Lanka by 82 runs and improved their net run rate (NRR) dramatically in their dominant performance at the 2024 T20 World Cup.
The Asia Cup winners were eliminated from the competition thanks to a concerted effort headed by Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, and the Indian bowlers.
Key Performances and Match Results
India 172 for 3 (Harmanpreet 52*, Mandhana 50, Shafali 43, Athapaththu 1-34) beat Sri Lanka 90 (Dilhari 21, Sanjeewani 20, Reddy 3-19, Asha 3-19) by 82 runs.
Match Analysis
With dreams of qualifying for the semi-finals hanging in the balance, India used a somewhat colder evening in Dubai to unleash their best game and demolish Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup 2024. They may have had the finest batting display of any team in the tournament thus far. They also played brilliantly both on the field and with the ball, eliminating the Asia Cup winners.
India achieved the highest score in this T20 World Cup with 172 for 3, thanks to half-centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur while they were batting first. After that, they bowled Sri Lanka out for ninety to record India’s largest-ever victory in T20 World Cup history, with three wickets apiece from Arundhati Reddy and Asha Sobhana.
Their huge victory caused their net run rate (NRR) to soar to 0.576, which was just behind Australia’s and ahead of Pakistan’s. This is noteworthy because their net run rate dropped after losing to New Zealand by 58 runs in their first game.
India’s opening stands against New Zealand and Pakistan were 11 and 18, respectively, prior to Wednesday. India batted second in both of their matches in a tournament when teams seemed to have an advantage when they bat first. Harmanpreet won her first toss, giving India the opportunity to bat first, and the openers went about their work methodically.
Mandhana and Shafali Verma both struggled to escape as Sri Lanka forced their spinners into action. In the third over, Shafali went the aerial route for India’s first four, and he repeated the same in the fourth and fifth overs. In the fifth over, she was on 24 off 20, and Mandhana was on 6 off 10. However, unlike in the last game, she wasn’t striving too hard or being impatient.
India finished the powerplay on 41 for 0 as Mandhana finally got going with a slap over the head of left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari. In the next year, she signaled the change in gear by slogging another left-arm spinner, Inoka Ranaweera, for a six over wide long-on. From the third to the ninth over, India was able to score at least one four. By giving her bowlers one-over periods till the 13th over, Chamari Athapaththu kept India guessing. By that point, Mandhana had passed Shafali to record her fourth T20 World Cup half-century.
The opening partnership between India and their third-highest score in T20 World Cup history, 98, was ended by a run-out when Athapaththu and Ama Kanchana, who were substituted for Hasini Perera, combined to trap Mandhana short on 50. Athapaththu had Shafali mishit a heave to cover on the very next ball. That over meant that Athapaththu had to abandon the one-spell plan and bowled the 13th and 15th overs, the second over of the spell.
Harmanpreet batted at No. 4 against Pakistan, but before she had faced a ball, Jemimah Rodrigues joined her at No. 3. Rodrigues is one of the Indian lineup’s most comfortable hitters against spin. After putting Ranaweera away with the sweep, she pulled Athapaththu to the deep square leg boundary by moving in her crease.
To make sure the openers’ platform was not wasted, Harmanpreet hit Kumari for a four and a six at the opposite end. After taking two quick wickets, Rodrigues was given a life at 13 when Kavisha Dilhari missed a dolly at deep midwicket. Despite this, Rodrigues quickly succumbed for 16 off 10.
Harmanpreet batted at No. 4 against Pakistan, but before she had faced a ball, Jemimah Rodrigues joined her at No. 3. Rodrigues is one of the Indian lineup’s most comfortable hitters against spin. After putting Ranaweera away with the sweep, she pulled Athapaththu to the deep square leg boundary by moving in her crease.
To make sure the openers’ platform was not wasted, Harmanpreet hit Kumari for a four and a six at the opposite end. After taking two quick wickets, Rodrigues was given a life at 13 when Kavisha Dilhari missed a dolly at deep midwicket. Despite this, Rodrigues quickly succumbed for 16 off 10.
By that point, Harmanpreet was loose because he had a lengthy batting lineup before of him. Prior to ruining Athapaththu’s figures with two fours, she paddled Kanchana past short fine leg. When Harmanpreet was on 22, Ranaweera lost control of a strong hit at cover.
In the final two overs, she struck two fours apiece against Kanchana and Prabodhani, marking only her third half-century in Twenty20 Internationals since the 2023 T20 World Cup. India amassed the most points by any side in this T20 World Cup with 46 off the final four overs thanks to that blitz—52 not out off just 27 balls.
She was declared fit for this game despite having retired injured against Pakistan owing to a neck injury. She had arrived for the toss wearing a pain reliever patch on the right side of her neck. She did not, however, lead the squad in the hunt, as Mandhana was the captain.
Prior to the T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka had won more games than they had lost since April of last year, and they outperformed Australia and India in terms of win-loss ratio. It would have been a bit premature to write them off in the 173-run chase in Dubai, after they had chased down 166 to win their first Asia Cup title. However, India was spot on right on and never gave them the slightest chance.
The tone was set by Radha Yadav, who replaced Harmanpreet, with an athletic effort on the second ball of the chase. From the backward position, she went back to her right and dove the entire distance to intercept a mistake made by Vishmi Gunaratne. At the other end, Mandhana gave the new ball to Shreyanka Patil before Deepti Sharma.
In response, Patil pushed one a little bit faster, causing it to spin away, tempting Athapaththu to give a defensive, hard-handed poke to gather the edge to slip. The challenge was nearly put down when Renuka Singh gave Asia Cup finalist Harshitha Samarawickrama an outside edge in the third over.
In the middle overs, leg-spinner Asha joined the fray, taking three wickets while undoing the batters with his razor-sharp spin. Her greatest wicket came from Anushka Sanjeewani, who forced Dilhari to give up 37 runs at the fourth wicket. Asha deceived the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper by pulling a length ball after floating a couple up to the batter, and Richa Ghosh stumped her.
Throughout the middle overs, Asha and Reddy—who was named Player of the Match against Pakistan—continually hit. Despite being caught for 12 in her first over, Reddy’s efforts were commendable as she concluded with the same score of 3 for 19. In this competition, Sri Lanka finished with a double-digit total for the third straight game.
The experience increased India’s chances of qualifying for the semi-finals, when they play their final league match on Sunday against Australia.
