Sri Lanka vs India: Smriti Mandhana-Shafali Verma partnership was outstanding to watch, says Harmanpreet Kaur
India Today
India Women tour of Sri Lanka: Smriti Mandhana hit an unbeaten 94 while Shafali Verma hit 71 not out as India chased down 174 with 10 wickets to spare and take 2-0 lead in the 3-match ODI series.
India women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur heaped praise on Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma after the two openers helped the visitors win by 10 wickets in the 2nd ODI and seal the 3-match series. Shafali and Smriti were unbeaten with half-centuries as India gunned down 174 in just 25.4 overs.
Smriti Mandhana hit 94 off just 83 balls while Shafali Verma remained unbeaten on 71 from as many balls as India rushed their way to the target. Smriti hit 11 boundaries and a six while Shafali hit 4 boundaries and a six as the two batters stitched their maiden 100-plus partnership in ODIs to go with their 2-century partnerships in T20 cricket.
Harmanpreet Kaur said India had spoken about the need for partnerships in ODI cricket and the team management was happy to see Smriti and Shafali taking responsibility at the top of the order.
"We have been talking about long partnerships and thankfully we got it today. I'm happy with the way we batted, it was outstanding to watch," she added.
Notably, it was Harmanpreet's first ODI series win as full-time captain as she took over th role afte the retirement of the legendary Mithali Raj.
India’s win was set by medium-pace bowler Renuka Singh, who registered her career-best figures of 4 for 28 in 10 overs while Meghna Singh got 2 wickets, including the big scalp of Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu.
\Sri Lanka were bundled out for 173 in 50 overs after off-spinner Deepti Sharma also chipped in with 2 wickets.
