India beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in the second T20I, at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Opting to bat, Sri Lanka put up 125/7 on a slow, low pitch. India overhauled the target with five balls to spare.af
The Indian innings found impetus in the Powerplay, after which they were 52/2. Shafali Verma and S. Meghana fell for identical scores of 17 from 10 balls, Verma hitting two fours and a six, Meghana four fours. Smriti Mandhana (39 in 34 balls) and Harmanpreet Kaur (31* in 32) then added added 38 for the third wicket to seal the match for India. Sri Lanka did get Jemimah Rodrigues and Yastika Bhatia cheaply, but they were never really in the hunt after India's Powerplay. For them, Inoka Ranaweera had 4-0-18-2 and Sugandika Kumari 4-0-20-1.
Earlier, Sri Lankan openers Vishmi Gunaratne (45 in 50 balls) and Chamari Athapaththu (43 in 41) added 87 – but they took 83 balls for that. Sri Lanka, 106/1 at one point, seemed set for a score 135, but ended up losing six wickets for 19 runs in the last 19 balls. Kaur was named Player of the Match for her innings as well as her spell of 3-0-12-1.
Brief scores
Sri Lanka 125/7 in 20 overs (Vishmi Gunaratne 45; Deepti Sharma 2-34) lost to India 127/5 in 19.1 overs (Smriti Mandhana 39; Inoka Ranaweera 2-18) by 5 wickets with 5 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Harmanpreet Kaur.