Women's T20 World Cup 2024: India Earn Vital Two Points With Thumping Of Sri Lanka

India Women Beat Sri Lanka Women: India Women keep their hopes for semifinals alive by registering a dominant win over Sri Lanka Women in Match 12 of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024. The 2023 semi-finalists thumped the newly-crowned Asian champions on all fronts by managing to score 172 in the first innings, which is the highest total of the tournament so far.

Smriti Mandhana finally regained her form at the right time as she scored a brilliant half-century but it was skipper Harmapreet Kaur who stole the show with an unbeaten knock of 27-ball 52.

In reply, Indian bowlers did extremely well to restrict Sri Lanka at 90, thereby, winning the match by 82 runs.

Here's What Both Captains Said During Post-Match Presentation Ceremony

Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka Women Captain):

"Actually, we struggled in the bowling. Dropped a few catches. Bowlers not bowling right line and length. Even the batters didn't do their job. Myself, Harshita and Vishmi, the top order fell early and then it is hard to chase this score. We have to go back to the whiteboard and look at what needs to be done."

"Yeah, I think so. The first game is really important for such tournaments. We lost against Pakistan, it was a low scoring contest. I think as a batting unit, I feel we had to chase it down. After that the dressing room was down but these things happen in cricket. We have one more game to come. At least we have to think about that game and play well against New Zealand."

"I am happy with my bowling, not in this game, but in the last two games, we have been bowling well. We have to improve our batting and bowling for the last game."

Harmanpreet Kaur (India Women Captain):

"Yeah, definitely. When you play cricket, you always want to feel good about your performance. I think today, we ticked all the boxes. We batted well, bowled well, and most importantly, we fielded well. We've been focusing on our fielding, and we're really happy that we took all our catches, which is something very important for us."

"Well, we did discuss before the game what target we should aim for if we batted first and how many overs we'd need to chase if we bowled. But these pitches are really tricky. You can't just plan and execute without adjusting because, as we saw, we lost two wickets back-to-back. It's something that requires constant effort."

"Fortunately, today, a lot went according to our plan. We batted first, and our target was at least 160, but we managed to set over 170, which was crucial. In the end, when you're in this kind of situation, you have to focus not only on winning but also on improving your net run rate."

"Well, we definitely need to focus on playing good cricket, first and foremost. Our bowlers are performing well, and while the opposition is a strong side, it's great to see our bowlers finding their rhythm and delivering crucial breakthroughs when needed. I think we're bowling well and just need to keep doing that, without worrying too much about who's in front of us. As I mentioned, these wickets are tricky, and you never know when things can turn in your favor."

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