Nilakshi de Silva, Harshitha Samarawickrama fifties power SL in narrow win

Nilakshi de Silva and Harshitha Samarawickrama scored half-centuries and Anushka Sanjeewani and Sugandika Kumari finished well as Sri Lanka recorded just their third win over India in Women's ODI in Colombo on Sunday (May 4). India put on a strong total in 275/9 with Richa Ghosh top-scoring for them, but saw it chased down in the final over.

India had batting contributions all through the order after the hosts asked them to set the total, even as Smriti Mandhana exited for just 18 in the 10th over. She still partnered Pranika Rawal in a 51-run stand before Harleen Deol and Harmanpreet Kaur added 50 more. Through the middle, Jemimah Rodrigues (37 off 46) and Richa Ghosh (58 off 48) took charge to push India ahead.

Chamari Athapaththu broke that alliance by trapping Rodrigues leg before, but the next batter - Deepti Sharma - arrived to keep up the forging of vital partnerships. Ghosh's exit in the 44th over was crucial - also the turning point per Harmanpreet Kaur, as India could've pushed on much further with her batting through. India still got contributions from Kashvee Gautam and Sneh Rana to take the team to a respectable 275/9.

Sri Lanka's chase was powered by a 78-run partnership between Vishmi Gunaratne and Samarawickrama as they took the hosts past the 100-run mark by the 21st over. India caused a mini-wobble from this point on as Arundhati Reddy, Rawal and Rana struck in quick succession to reduce Sri Lanka from 108/1 to 152/4 in the space of under 10 overs. But Kavisha Dilhari and Nilakshi hit back with a fighting stand worth 57 off just 6.2 overs. The pair hit 10 fours and three sixes between them to quickly put the hosts back in command.

Rana then struck twice to remove Dilhari and Dewmi Vihanga and Sri Lanka were then in a spot of bother as Nilakshi's fiery 33-ball effort ended in the 43rd over. But that brought the eighth-wicket pair of Anushka and Sugandika together, who brought the chase down to just 16 off the last four overs. That was further reduced to 2 off 6, which Anushka got with a four on the first ball of the final over.

Brief Scores: India Women 275/9 in 50 overs (Richa Ghosh 58, Pratika Rawal 35; Sugandika Kumari 3-44, Chamari Athapaththu 3-43) lost to Sri Lanka 278/7 in 49.1 overs (Nilakshi de Silva 56, Harshitha Samarawickrama 53; Sneh Rana 3-45) by 3 wickets.