ICC Women's World Cup | India beat Sri Lanka by 16 runs to inch closer to semi-finals spot

Having won the toss and elected to bat first, things did not start well for Mithali Raj and her side as Punam Raut and Smriti Mandhana departed early to leave the side at 38/2 after 11 overs. However, that’s when Raj came to the crease and in the company of Deepti Sharma, the duo steadied the Indian innings with a much-needed partnership and opened up once they got their collective eye in. 

Together, they put up 118 runs for the third wicket and set the stage for others to finish the innings with a flourish. But the fall of three quick wickets thereafter took the momentum out of the Indian innings and Veda Krishnamurthy and Harmanpreet Kaur took the onus upon themselves to keep up the ante until they both got out in consecutive balls in the 49th over to medium-pacer Sripali Weerakkody. Finally, despite the loss of wickets of wickets towards the end of their innings, the Indian women managed a respectable total of 232/8 from their 50 overs.

Poonam Yadav, who picked 2/23 in her ten overs, then helped set up the win for India. The diminutive Yadav swung the game in India’s favour when she came round the wicket and got the better of Chamari Atapattu in the 18th over when the Lankans had reached a good position at 57-1. Yadav enticed the batsman with a flighted delivery that the Sri Lankan tried to sweep but missed the line and was bowled. Then, with another identical delivery, she enticed Nipuni to make a big stride forward for a slog sweep only to be stumped by Sushma Verma.