Fiftes from Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur and a clinical show from the bowling unit meant that the Indian women’s cricket team defeated Sri Lanka in their third group game of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on Wednesday.After losing the first game against New Zealand and a tame win against Pakistan, the Indian team finally displayed some dominance on the pitch and completely destroyed Sri Lanka’s bowling and batting alike.Here are the major talking points from the game:#5 India faces a big challenge next
India will be facing Australia in their last group game.
If India wants to qualify directly and doesn’t depend on any permutations and combinations, they need to defeat Australia which looks unlikely given Australia’s form in the tournament. Also, India’s history with Australia is something that further reduces any hopes for India.
A win against Australia will guarantee India a spot in the semi-final while a loss would mean that India will depend on the result on Pakistan and New Zealand.
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#4 India gets a big NRR boost and moves up in the points table
With a big win of 82 runs, the Indian team has moved second to the points table in Group A behind Australia. India’s net run rate (NRR) has turned positive and sits just above Pakistan who have played one game less.
India’s win also means that Sri Lanka is out of the tournament with three defeats in three games
#3 Indian bowlers act as a lethal unit
Indian bowlers were lethal as a unit against Sri Lanka will Renuka Thakur taking a wicket on the first ball as substitute Radha Yadav completed a stunning catch to get rid of Vishmi Gunaratne.
Shreyanka Patil got Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapattu getting her caught at the first slip.
Renuka came back to strike again as India reduced Sri Lanka to 6/3 with Harshitha Samrawickrama nicking one behind.
Spinner Asha Sobhana and pacer Arundhati later came to take three wickets each to bundle the Sri Lankan team for 90 and record a huge win.
#2 Harmanpreet Kaur at number 3 works for India
Finally, promoting skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to number three proved crucial as the experienced batter demolished the Sri Lankan attack in the later part of the innings.
She took some time to settle down but unleashed her destructive best once she got hold of the things.
Ever since she slog-swept Kumari for six in the cow corner region in the 15th over, she looked in business. Her whirlwind knock comprised eight boundaries including two straight hits off Udeshika Prabhodani in the final over.
She scored 52 runs not out off 27 balls hitting eight fours and one six.
#1 Indian Openers finally started well
The highly-rated opening pair of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana failed to put up a decent opening stand in the powerplay leading to India’s loss against New Zealand.
The 98-run stand between Shafali Verma (43 off 40) and Smriti (50 off 38) set the tone for the innings after India opted to bat at the Dubai International Stadium.
The start meant that India touched the 100-run mark around the 13th over giving Harmanpreet Kaur the base to fire on later in the innings.