India opener Smriti Mandhana lauds bowlers after series-winning second T20I vs Sri Lanka

Smriti Mandhana. Pic/AFP

Star India opener Smriti Mandhana hailed her side's bowling unit for getting the job done as they clinched the three-match Women's T20 International series against Sri Lanka with a five-wicket win in the second match here on Saturday.

India dished out an impressive bowling display, choking Sri Lanka to a paltry 125-7 after the hosts were 87 for no loss inside 14 overs. In reply, India overcame some early hiccups to secure the series-clinching win and take an unassailable 2-0 lead. "They [bowlers] did a really good job today and also in the last match to defend 139," said Mandhana, who became the second fastest Indian woman to score 2,000 T20I runs, at the post-match press conference.

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The Indian bowlers struggled to get a breakthrough early on as the Sri Lankan openers skipper Chamari Athapaththu (43) and Vishmi Gunaratne (45) gave them a solid start. "We didn't have to tell them much. It was just about following our game plan as a bowling unit and sticking to it. Our bowlers were really patient with it."

Brief scores
SL 125-7 (V Gunaratne 45, A Athapaththu 43; D Sharma 2-34, R Yadav 1-15) lost to India 127-5 in 19.1 overs (S Mandhana 39, H Kaur 31'; I Ranaweera 2-18, O Ranasinghe 2-32) by five wickets

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