'Batting-friendly wickets, tough for bowlers': Mandhana after match-winning ton in Tri-Series Final
Colombo [Sri Lanka], May 11 (ANI): Smriti Mandhana rose to the occasion, scoring a sublime 116 off 101 balls to help India Women clinch the Women's ODI Tri-Series title with a commanding 97-run win over Sri Lanka in the final held in Colombo on Sunday.
Batting first, India posted an imposing 342/7, with Mandhana anchoring the innings with characteristic poise and fluency. Her century set the tone for a dominant performance, as the Indian batters capitalised on favourable batting conditions to pile on the runs.
'Mostly we plan our innings to first assess the conditions. Initially they held their lines, but later on we found ways to score. All the wickets have been really good batting wickets. Not that great to bowl, but our bowlers did well regardless,' Mandhana said after being named 'Player of the Match', as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
In reply, Sri Lanka never quite found the rhythm needed to challenge India's total. Despite some brief partnerships, they were eventually bowled out for 245, as the Indian bowling unit, led by their spinners and disciplined pace attack, kept chipping away with wickets.
Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu acknowledged India's superior performance and pointed to her team's missed chances in the field as a key factor in the result.
'First of all, congratulations to India, they played really well today. 300 plus is not easy to chase, we fought hard, but we dropped some catches, and missed some runouts as well. Even our bowling unit struggled in the middle overs, but Smriti (Mandhana) batted really well,' Athapaththu said after the game.
She also admitted that fielding has been a concern throughout the tournament.
'We have to improve our fielding, we dropped catches and missed runout chances throughout the tournament. SLC is trying to get new fielding coaches as well, so we need to work on it,' she said.
With the World Cup on the horizon, the Sri Lankan skipper emphasised the need to strengthen both their fielding and batting departments.
'We also need to improve our batting, we need some power-hitters, but work needs to be done before the World Cup,' she added.
Brief score: India Women 342/7 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 116, Harleen Deol 47; Sugandika Kumari 2/59) vs. Sri Lanka Women 245 in 48.2 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 51, Nilakshika Silva 48; Sneh Rana 4/38). (ANI)
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