Internet Desk: Veda Krishnamurthy returned to the Indian side in place of the out-of-touch Mona Meshram for her first game of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, and showed her worth with a 33-ball 29 from No. 7 and a brisk partnership of 50 runs with Harmanpreet Kaur. This intent was not always visible while India was batting during its 16-run win against Sri Lanka at the County Ground in Derby on Wednesday.
While Veda provided the impetus in the late stages, the 116-run stand for the third wicket between Deepti Sharma (78) and Mithali Raj (53) held the innings together. But despite its fourth consecutive win and being one step away from a semi-final berth, India will be the first to admit that it was a far from complete performance.
After opting to bat first on a fresh pitch, India lost two wickets off consecutive deliveries twice before reaching 232 for 8. In response, Sri Lanka failed to read Poonam Yadav’s leg-spin and was restricted to 216 for 7 – Dilani Manodara’s entertaining 61 could have been decisive had she got support from the rest of the batters.
The decisive moment in the game came in the 18th over of Sri Lanka’s innings when Chamari Athapaththu failed to read a googly from Poonam that did not turn much, and was bowled while attempting a slog sweep. Having hit four fours in her 25 and put on 40 runs for the second wicket with Nipuni Hansika, Athapaththu looked in good touch. But her dismissal exposed the lack of Sri Lanka’s depth in batting, and India cashed in. Poonam then drew Hansika forward with a classical stock delivery and had her beautifully stumped by Sushma Verma in the 24th over. With the required run-rate climbing, Shashikala Siriwardene and Manodara gave a push to the chase. They took their chances during a fourth-wicket association of 60 runs, but Poonam’s economical returns of 10-1-23-2 ensured that India never lost control despite some easy boundaries being conceded by the other bowlers.
Sri Lanka hit 40 runs in the batting Power Play, but Veda ran forward from long-on to take a well-judged diving catch and send Siriwardene back for 37. Veda held another smart catch inside the inner circle, but otherwise India’s fielding left a lot to be desired.
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