Rodrigues put on a boundary-hitting exhibition as he smashed 11 fours and maximum in his 53-ball counter-innings to help India post 150 for six in a wicket where batsmen struggled due to low bounce.
Indian bowlers then bowled out Sri Lanka for 109 runs in 18.2 overs, striking at regular intervals. Indians were better than their Sri Lankan counterparts in all three departments.
India didn’t start well after being asked to bat. Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana (10) was dismissed first, while fellow opener Shafali Verma (6) continued to bat as spinner Oshadi Ranasinghe (3/32) became the first victim of the day. But Rodrigues, who is recovering from a wrist injury, kept the ball on time to perfection from the start.
Rodrigues completed his fifty in 38 balls and along with captain Harmanpreet Kaur took India past the 100-run mark.
After this the Sri Lankan bowlers came back with a flurry of wickets in the death overs. While Rodrigues continued to score at a decent pace, surpassing his previous career-best T20I score of 72, his innings soon ended with a slow and short delivery from Chamari Athapathuthu as the Indian bowled.
The spinners under Ranasinghe did a lot of work for Sri Lanka. Chasing 151, Sri Lanka went for a flier, conceding 13 runs in the first over bowled by fast bowler Renuka Singh (0/20). But Sri Lanka could not keep the momentum going as they lost wickets at regular intervals. With the required run rate rising, the Sri Lankans fell under the pressure.
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