CRICKET POLL

India clinched the tri-series in Sri Lanka with a resounding 97-run win in the final over the hosts in Colombo on Sunday (May 11). The win was set up by the batters, led Smriti Mandhana's 116, as India posted a mammoth 342 for 7. Sneh Rana then ended the competition the way she started, bagging 4 for 38 to bundle the Sri Lankans out for 245.

India, once again through their opening batters laid a strong foundation with a 70-run opening stand between Pratika Rawal and the centurion Mandhana. Inoka Ranaweera broke the opening stand in the 15th over but it was after this that Mandhana came into her own. The southpaw, who was dropped in the 11th over off Ranaweera, scored 15 boundaries and two sixes in her innings. She was prolific in the middle phase, punishing the slower bowlers.

She continued her elegant strokes against Dewmi Vihanga, rotating strike at regular intervals before a hat-trick of boundaries off Athapaththu saw her bring up her 11th ODI century. During this time, she had Harleen Deol for good company in a 120-run second run-stand. Mandhana finally departed as she chipped one to backward point. The Indian middle order of Harleen, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues all registered 40s, each of them scoring four boundaries each as the Indian innings continued to be freely scoring. Amanjot Kaur and Deepti Sharma then finished the innings with quickfire cameos as India posted a gargantuan total.

The Sri Lankan response saw in-form opener Hasini Perera depart for a duck to Amanjot but Vishmi Gunaratne and Athapaththu played out the first PowerPlay and attempted to lay the foundation for the innings. Gunaratne became Amanjot's second victim, having scored 36 but Athapaththu and Nilakshi de Silva put on a stubborn resistance again. However, the top-order of the hosts failed to strike above 100 which made the required run-rate continuously rise.

With 190 required off the last 20 overs, Rana scalped the two set batters which dealt a further blow to the hosts. Harshitha Samarawickrama and Anushka Sanjeewani scampered their way to the 20s but the run-rate kept going up. Two run-outs followed before Rana bowled Malki Madara first ball to seal the win.

Brief Scores:India 342/7 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 116, Harleen Deol 47; Sugandika Kumari 2-59) beat Sri Lanka 245 in 48.2 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 51, Nilakshi de Silva 48; Sneh Rana 4-32) by 97 runs.