Opener G Trisha’s composed 49 and pacers’ excellent new ball spell fashioned India’s lopsided 60-run win over Sri Lanka and their entry into the Super Six of the ICC U19 T20 Women’s World Cup as Group A toppers here on Thursday.
On a spiteful pitch, Trisha’s 44-ball knock (5×4, 1×6) was worth its weight in gold as it guided India to a competitive 118 for nine. Pacers VJ Joshitha and Shabnam then tore through the Lankan top-order to reduce them to 9 for four in 3.2 overs, and run out of skipper Manudi Nanayakkara an over later had them reeling at 12 for five.
Sri Lanka were eventually restricted to 58 for nine in 20 overs as India finished the group engagements with all-win record in three matches. There was not much life left in Sri Lanka’s chase once the spinners were introduced, and India’s assortment of left-arm orthodox tweakers did the mopping up job to perfection.
Rashmika Sewwandi (15, 12b, 2×4) looked in good touch for the while she lasted, but mounting asking rate forced her to take chances against Parunika Sisodia, and got caught in the deep. It was also the only double digit score in the Lankan innings.
Sisodia (2/7) was the pick among spinners as she and her colleagues Ayushi Shukla and Vaishnavi Sharma, who picked up stunning figures of 5/5 against Malaysia in the previous match, dismantled the lower order without much ado. Earlier, India’s batting too went through stormy seas but Player of the Match Trisha held together the defending champions with exemplary maturity.
The right-hander placed her shots cleverly and in a rare show of aggression slammed Shashni Gimhani over long-off for a six. She fell to the part-time medium pace of Nanayakkara, but Joshitha’s (9-ball 14) and Mithila Vinod’s (10-ball 16) helped India add some precious runs in the back end of the innings.