India clean sweep Sri Lanka in women T20I seri

RANCHI: India Women’s spinners stifled the Sri Lanka Women batting, squeezing them to 89 for 9 in their 20 overs, before the top three knocked off the target in 13.5 overs to complete a nine-wicket thumping in the third T20I in Ranchi. The win secured a 3-0 series sweep for India.Left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht was the standout bowler for India, claiming 3 for 17 in her four overs, while offspinners Anuja Patil and Deepti Sharma took 3 for 30 in eight overs between them. In a good team effort, all of India’s bowlers except Poonam Yadav kept their economy rates below 5.After opting to bat, Sri Lanka got off to a poor start, losing Oshadi Ranasinghe fourth ball, before captain Shashikala Siriwardene was run out four balls later. A 33-run partnership between Nipuni Hansika and Chamari Atapattu provided Sri Lanka respite, but it was brief – when Bisht had Hansika stumped off the first ball of the tenth over, it opened a passage of play in which five wickets fell for 11 runs in 5.3 overs.An eighth-wicket partnership of 39 off 29 balls between Eshani Lokusuriyage and Ama Kanchana then steered the tourists to their final total of 89 for 9.India made light work of the chase, as openers Vellaswamy Vanitha and Smriti Mandhana put on 64 in 8.4 overs. Vanitha’s dismissal was Sri Lanka’s only success with the ball; Veda Krishnamurthy joined Mandhana to knock off the remaining 26 runs with 37 balls to spare.’