All-round Anuja Patil leads India to T20I series win

Tuesday, 25 September 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A second consecutive half-century from Jemimah Rodrigues, and an all-round show from Anuja Patil helped India see off Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the fourth match and clinch the five-match Twenty20 International series.

Patil was the star of the show in Colombo on Monday. She first returned 3/36 with her off-spin to restrict Sri Lanka to 134/5 after Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and put the home side in after a delayed toss – overnight rain had caused puddles in sections of the ground, and the match was reduced to a 17-overs-a-side affair.

Then, despite India losing three early wickets, Rodrigues and Patil scored half-centuries, and combined to add an unbroken 96 runs for the fourth wicket to help India reach 137/3 in 15.4 overs.

The victory meant that India take a 3-0 lead going into the final T20I, with the second match of the series being washed out.

All of Sri Lanka’s batters got starts, but couldn’t turn them into sizeable scores. Yasoda Mendis scored a quick 12-ball 19 before becoming Patil’s first victim in the third over. Two overs after that, Hasini Perera became her second scalp, when she was bowled for 10.

Captain Chamari Athapaththu then added 52 with Shashikala Siriwardene in what was Sri Lanka’s best phase of the match. However, left-arm spinner Radha Yadav broke the stand with the wicket of Athapaththu (31 off 26) in the 11th over, and Sri Lanka’s scoring rate slowed down.

Nilakshi de Silva managed a 14-ball 15 before being sent back by Patil, and Siriwardene soon followed for a 32-ball 40, a knock that comprised three fours and a six.

Eshani Lokusuriyage hung around to add a 10-ball 11 to inch the total along, but that was never going to be enough against India’s array of power hitters.

Sri Lanka boosted their hopes when Mithali Raj (11) and Smriti Mandhana (5) were both dismissed by Oshadi Ranasinghe within the first two overs. India were 18/2 at that point, but Rodrigues then let loose.

The third wicket yielded 23 runs, despite Taniya Bhatia scoring just a run-a-ball five. After Bhatia was dismissed by Ranasinghe as well in the fourth over, Patil joined Rodrigues.

There was no further joy for Sri Lanka. Both batters scored at a strike rate of well over 100, and by the time the winning runs were scored, they had hit 14 boundaries between them, including two sixes from Rodrigues.

The final T20I will be played in Katunayake on Tuesday.