Opener Tanishka Sharma’s fine half-century, backed by an impressive bowling effort from Janhavi Veerkar and Maitri Maniar, powered India to an 11-run win over Sri Lanka in their U-19 women’s T20 match here on Wednesday.
Asked to bat, India suffered an early blow with Deeksha Katragadda (0) falling in the second over. However, Sharma held the innings together with a composed 58 off 56 balls, striking eight fours. She stitched a crucial 57-run stand for the second wicket with Ira Jadhav (26 off 21), while Kumari Palak (21 off 18) and Kashvi Kandikuppa (12) made handy contributions to take India to 134 for six.
In reply, Sri Lanka were restricted to 123 for 8 in their 20 overs, thanks to disciplined spells from Veerkar (3/14) and Maniar (3/26), who
picked up three wickets apiece.
Vimoksha Balasuriya led the chase with a fluent 61 off 52 balls, including eight boundaries, and shared useful partnerships with fellow opener Sanjana Kavindi (14) and Manudi Nanayakkara (24) to keep Sri Lanka in contention.
However, India struck at key moments. Kashvi removed Sanjana in the seventh over, before Maniar dismissed Manudi in the 16th over to leave Sri Lanka at 95 for 2. Maniar then returned to claim the crucial wicket of Vimoksha in the 18th over, triggering a collapse as the hosts fell short, registering their second successive defeat.
The two sides will meet again in the third and final T20 on Saturday.
(With PTI Inputs)
