India hopes to seal the series; Sri Lanka aims to mounta meaningful challenge

There is a new spring in their steps. The kind of spring that only the ultimate success brings.

You could sense it as Harmanpreet Kaur and Harleen Deol stepped out of the team bus, chatted animatedly, and smiled heartily as they headed towards the Greenfield Stadium on a pleasant Thursday evening in a city that was celebrating Christmas quietly. The Women in Blue have several reasons to celebrate these days, of course.

At the start of the week, the BCCI has increased the match fee in women’s domestic by more than two times. On the field, they have been absolutely dominant against Sri Lanka. The ODI World champion side has slipped into T20I mode with ease.

Harmanrpreet’s women should be hoping to carry their from Visakhapatnam to the third match of the series here on Friday. India had won the first T20I with eight wickets and 32 balls to spare and the second with seven wickets and 49 balls to spare.

In the first match, the Lankans crawled to 121 for six, while in the second they managed 128 for nine. If they want to keep the series alive, they surely need to bat a lot better. And they need their captain to make a big score.

Chamari Athapaththu has been a fantastic servant of Sri Lanka for long. Rarely has her young team needed more from her. She could win a game with her own bat, but she would want other batters to show more intent and urgency than they have shown in the first two matches.

Vishmi Gunaratne scored 39 (43b) in the first game and Harshitha Samarawickrama made 33 (32b) in the second. And they got run-out.

The host’s bowlers will be hoping to smother the Lankan batting yet again, though they will be playing on a different surface. The young seamer Kranti Goud continues to grow in stature, while the depth in India’s spin is becoming more and more obvious. The latest tweaker to wear the blue shirt, Vaishnavi Sharma, has impressed, as she claimed two wickets in the last match.

The fans in Thiruvananthapuram, which is hosting its first ever women’s international cricket match, would rather want India to bat for more overs than they did in Visakhapatnam and see some sparkling strokeplay from the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet, Jemimah Rodrigues – coach Amol Muzmudar said she was resting ‘with bit of an issue but is fine’ — and Richa Ghosh.

The teams (from): India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, Richa Ghosh, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh, G. Kamalini, Shree Charani and Vaishnavi Sharma.

Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu (Capt.), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Hasini Perera, Vishmi Gunaratne, Nilakshika Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Imesha Dulani, Kaushini Nuthyangana, Malsha Shehani, Inoka Ranaweera, Shashini Gimhani, Nimesha Madushani, Kawya Kavindi, Rashmika Sewwandi and Malki Madara.

Match starts at 7 p.m.