With an unassailable 4-0 lead in the five-match T20I series, the Indian eves came into the INDW vs SL 5th T20I with an aim to secure a total whitewash. However, after restricting India to 175/7 in 20 overs, Sri Lanka opener Hasini Perera and No.3 Imesha Dhulani seemed to take the contest away with a quickfire 79-run stand.
Both batters managed to hit fifties and while Dhulani perished in the 12th over, Perera’s presence in the middle seemed to be growing dangerous the longer she was there. India needed to get the big wicket and this is when young spinner Shree Charani delivered.
In the 17th over of Sri Lanka’s innings, Perera took the attack against Charani, dispatching her for a boundary and a maximum. Shree Charani managed to hold onto her nerves and exacted her revenge with a yorker. As Perera was looking to make room for another big shot, the Indian spinner bowled a quicker one around 85.5kph. This time, she attacked the stumps instead of following the batter and cramped Perera for room as she edged the ball onto the stumps.
Watch the video of the dismissal below.
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Speaking about the INDW vs SLW 5th T20I, India were put to bat first but they lost their top order cheaply. Shafali Verma (2), Gunalan Kamalini (12) and Harleen Deol (13) failed to get going before skipper Harmanpreet Kaur took over the onus of rebuilding the innings herself. She struck a deft knock of 43-ball 68, followed by finishing touches from Amanjot Kaur (21 off 18) and Arundhati Reddy (27* off 11) to propel India Women to a competitive total.
Coming to the chase, although India managed to remove Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu early in just the second over, fifties from Imesha Dhulani and Hasini Perera shifted the momentum in favour of the hosts. While the duo perished in the 12th and 17th over respectively, no other Sri Lankan batter could make any meaningful contribution, eventually falling short of the target and losing the match by 15 runs.
For India, all six bowlers finished with a scalp each while Deepti Sharma scripted history for taking the most wickets in WT20Is (152).
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