Harmanpreet, Jemimah star as India sweep Women's T20 series vs Sri Lanka

Harmanpreet Kaur's half century and Jemimah Rodrigues's 31-ball 46 helped India beat Sri Lanka by 51 runs in the last T20I of the five-match series.

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Harmanpreet, Jemimah star as India sweep Women's T20 series vs Sri Lanka
Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodriguez steered India after early dismissals of Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj. (@BCCIWomen Photo)

In Short

  • India women outclassed Sri Lanka by 51 runs in last T20I
  • India sweeped the Women's T20I series 4-0
  • The fourth match of the series was washed out

Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodriguez starred with the bat while the Indian spinners let Sri Lanka reeling as India registered a 51-run victory over Sri Lanka to sweep the five-match Women's Twenty20 International series.

India had won the series after going up 3-0 and the fourth game was washed out. However, with the final match in Katunayake on Tuesday, India established their authority once more.

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Batting first, India rode on Jemimah Rodrigues's 31-ball 46 and Harmanpreet Kaur's swashbuckling 63 in 38 balls to put up 156, and then had their spin trio of Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav and Radha Yadav bowled out Sri Lanka for 105.

Deepti set the ball rolling for India when the Sri Lankans began their big chase -- marginally higher than their best score in the series before this game, 155 in the first fixture.

Deepti had Chamari Athapaththu, the captain, caught by Anuja Patil for a duck in the first over, and then she sent back Yasoda Mendis, who was stumped by Taniya Bhatia.

Anushka Sanjeewani (27), Shashikala Siriwardene (22) and Oshadi Ranasinghe (22) scored their runs quickly to raise Sri Lankan hopes of a win, but none of them stuck around long enough to worry the Indians.

Wickets kept falling, and though Sri Lanka were in it at 86/3 in the 14th over and by the 16th, they were 94/6 and staring down the barrel with their best batswomen gone. Poonam ended with 3/18, Deepti 2/18, and Radha 2/14. The remaining wickets fell to run outs.

Earlier, India's innings started poorly with Smriti Mandhana sent back by medium pacer Sripali Weerakkody for a duck in the first over. Athapaththu then dismissed Mithali Raj for 12 to leave India at 30/2 in 4.1 overs.

But Rodrigues and Kaur, No.3 and 4 respectively, got together and took complete control of proceedings. Rodrigues, the 20-year-old whose sequence of scores before this game was 36, 57 and 52*, broke free first, and looked set to get a third half-century in the series before falling for a 31-ball 46. Siriwardene got her wicket after she had hit six fours and a six.

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Rodrigues went back in the 12th over, and though none of the other Indian batters made a contribution of note, Kaur was at her belligerent best, and did most of the scoring on her own.

In poor touch leading up to the game - 7 and 17 in the ODIs and 0 and 24 in the two T20Is she had played on tour before this one - Kaur slammed three fours and five sixes to remind observers of her abilities. She almost single-handedly lifted India past 150 before Ranasinghe caught her behind.

India still had 15 balls left in the innings when Kaur perished, but lasted just six more, the innings folding with nine balls left.

India had won the ICC Women's Championship one-day international series 2-1 prior to the T20Is.