Women's T20 World Cup 2024: India set record with highest total, post 172 runs for five wickets against Sri Lanka

Team India (Pic: AFP)

India achieved a remarkable milestone by posting the highest score in the Women's T20 World Cup 2024 during their match against Sri Lanka in Dubai on Wednesday.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side scored an impressive 172 runs for the loss of three wickets, surpassing the previous record of 166 runs for 5 wickets set by South Africa against Scotland.

The 98-run stand between Shafali (43 off 40) and Smriti (50 off 38) set the tone for the innings after India opted to bat at the Dubai International Stadium. Harmanpreet (52 not out off 27) then got welcome runs in the death overs to push India past 170, the highest total of the competition thus far.

Smriti, who had struggled in the tournament up till now due to the slow nature of pitches, found it tough initially before getting into the groove.

Shafali coming up with regular boundaries at the other end helped Smriti settle down.

While the southpaw could not put away off-spinner Inoshi Priyadharshani, she deposited left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari down the ground for her first boundary.

Earlier, Kaur won the toss and elected to bat first against Sri Lanka.

"We gonna bat first, so far we haven't batted first so thought we will have a bat and put a decent total on the board. Feeling better (talking about her neck injury), if we play better cricket maybe I will feel more better. Asia Cup we played good cricket, one odd day (talking about the final where India lose to Sri Lanka) they played good cricket. We are going with the same eleven we played in the same game," said Harmanpreet after the toss.

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Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu implied on playing fearless cricket on Dubai International Stadium.

"We stick with our plans and hope to play our best cricket today. We have to play fearless cricket and taking the smart option is very important. Powerplay is really important and after that we have to rotate strike. We have one change, Ama Kanchana back in the side for Hasini Perera," the Sri Lankan captain said.