Renuka Singh Thakur's four-wicket haul and a record-opening partnership between Smriti Mandhana (94 not out) and Shafali Verma (71 not out) enabled the Indian women cruise to a convincing 10-wicket victory against the Sri Lankan women today, giving India a 2-0 series lead.
Renuka Singh Thakur and other bowlers made early gains for India after winning the toss and choosing to bowl first.
With Meghana Singh's capable assistance, Renuka produced an outstanding effort in just her fourth ODI to dismiss Sri Lanka for a meagre total. In the earlier game, Renuka had taken three wickets as the hosts forfeited for a similar score of 171.
Within seven overs, Renuka had taken three Sri Lankan wickets out of the equation. The crucial wicket of Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu was taken by Meghana as the visitors were reduced to 42/4 in the 16th over. Nilakshi de Silva was also fired by Meghana, further devastating Sri Lanka.
Run-outs were also detrimental because, with a few exceptions, India's fielding was generally excellent. According to a post on the ICC website, Deepti Sharma cleaned up the tail by taking the wickets of Inoka Ranaweera and Achini Kulasuriya after Anushka Sanjeewani and Kavisa Dilhari were both run-out.
Due to tight bowling, Sri Lanka was only able to score 11 fours in their innings before being dismissed for 173.
If Ama Kanchana's valiant resistance had not been met, Sri Lanka's final score of 173 would have been significantly lower. With only 81 runs scored, Kanchana, who replaced Dilhari at No. 7 when he was out in the 25th over, had a difficult task before of her.
She continued to defend while focusing on keeping the scoreboard moving with crucial singles while also trying to save her wicket. She crossed a few thresholds without taking any unnecessary risks as she slowly approached her half-century. She and de Silva shared a crucial 42-run seventh-wicket stand. Unfortunately, she was left stranded on 47 not out after she ran out of partners.
The visitors were not going to have much trouble reaching the goal of 174, but India's openers were fast to complete the chase in just 26 overs. The cautious attitude of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma was quickly abandoned in favour of a more assertive role.
India reached fifty in the ninth over, and the duo didn't look back after that. Both batters missed a few opportunities, but it helped that Sri Lanka played shoddy defence.
After reaching fifty runs, Mandhana quickly picked up the pace as Verma played her shots at the other end and they raced to a victory without losing a wicket.
Their 174-run stand is the fifth-highest partnership for India in women's ODIs and the highest against Sri Lanka.
With this win, India have not only gained an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series but also got two crucial points taking their total to four in the ICC Women's Championship 2022-25.
Brief scores: Sri Lanak Women 173 all out in 50 overs (Ama Kanchana 47 not out, Nilakshi de Silva 32; Renuka Thakur 4-28, Meghna Singh 2/43, Deepti Sharma 2/30) lost to India Women 174 for no loss in 25.4 overs (Smriti Mandhana 94 not out, Shafali Verma 71 not out) by 10 wickets