Sri Lanka Women’s Tri-Nation ODI Series: Harshitha, Nilakshika steer Sri Lanka Women to thrilling win

By M. Shamil Amit

Half tons by Harshitha Samarawickrama, which was her second successive, and Nilakshika Silva helped Sri Lanka Women to pull off a thrilling three-wicket win over India Women in the high-scoring fourth match of the Sri Lanka Women’s Tri-Nation ODI Series tournament match played at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

Harshitha cracked 59 in 61 balls that included five boundaries, while Nilakshika slammed a quickfire 56 in 33 balls, which had three boundaries and three sixes.

It was sweet revenge for the Sri Lankan lasses, who underwent a heavy defeat in the first match against the India Women. Harshitha laid the foundation in Sri Lanka Women’s run chase of 276 runs by sharing a valuable 78 runs for the second wicket with Vishmi Gunaratne.

Nilakshika, along with skipper Chamari Athapaththu, put on 57 runs for the fifth wicket, which further bolstered the side, and later Anushka Sanjeewani and Sugandika Kumari put on the finishing touches with a pair sharing an unbroken 40 runs for the eighth wicket for Sri Lanka Women to race to the target with five balls to spare.

The win saw Sri Lanka Women chalking up their second win of the tournament. The fifth match of the tournament between India Women and South Africa Women will be played on May 7.