Asia Cup T20: Mithali Raj scores half century, leads India to comfortable victory against Sri Lanka

India defeat Sri Lanka by 52 runs

India women’s cricket team have registered their fourth consecutive victory of the Asian Cricket Council Women’s T20 Asia Cup. After bagging a morale-boosting victory over Pakistan women in their previous game, Harmanpreet Kaur and co-registered a 52-run victory against Sri Lanka women on Thursday. Mithali Raj hit a half-century while Ekta Bisht (3/8) and Preeti Bose (3/14) shared six wickets between them to steer India to a comfortable 52-run win over Sri Lanka in the Women’s Asia Cup T20 tournament Bangkok on Thursday.

India won the toss and chose to bat first and the likes of Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj gave the Women in Blue a good start in their match in Bangkok, Thailand. India posted a modest total of 121 for four in their allotted 20 overs and then managed to restrict Sri Lanka to 69 for nine to maintain their unbeaten run in the tournament so far.

For Sri Lanka, the wickets kept toppling following the dismissal of Chamari Atapattu by Anuja Patil in the fourth over. Left arm orthodox spinner Ekta Bisht, yet again remained one of the shining stars for India Women in the match, as she picked up a total of 3 wickets off 8 runs in her four overs. Only two Sri Lankan batswomen could reach the double-digit mark, with Dilani Manodara top-scoring with 20.

With this win, India women stay put at the top of the points table with eight points from four games, while Pakistan Women are still on the second spot with six points from four games. There is a major chance that the arch-rivals India and Pakistan can face each other for second time in the tournament and this time in the final of the T20 Asia Cup which is to be played on Sunday.The clash between two is only possible if the points table remains the same until Saturday.

Brief scores:

India Women: 121 for 4 in 20 overs (Mithali Raj 62, Smriti Mandhana 21, Veda Krishnamurthy 21).

Sri Lanka Women: 69 for 9 in 20 overs (Dilani Manodara 20; Ekta Bisht 3/8, Preeti Bose 3/14).