India Women vs Sri Lanka Women: Shafali Verma helps create a new team record as India go 2-0 up in Vizag

Shafali Verma was at her dazzling best as India hammered Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the second T20I at Vizag on Tuesday (December 23). Chasing a low target of 129, India got there in the 12th over with Shafali unbeaten on 69 off just 34 deliveries. The other batters just played fiddle as the explosive opener took Sri Lanka's bowlers apart, thereby giving India a 2-0 lead.

Smriti Mandhana (14 off 11) couldn't convert her start and Jemimah Rodrigues (26 off 15) looked in sublime touch before perishing against the run of play. Jemimah's aggression along with Shafali's fireworks helped India to get a new team record in T20Is. Their total of 113 at the 10-over mark is now their highest score at the halfway mark of a T20I innings.

India's previous highest score at this stage was 111 against Malaysia during the Asian Games in 2023. The chase was a cruise with Shafali leading the way but India's win was set up by their bowlers, notably their left-arm spinners. Shree Charani and Vaishnavi Sharma were India's standout bowlers.

Vaishnavi, playing only her second T20I, opened her account in international cricket with excellent figures of 2-32 while Charani was more frugal with a fine spell of 2-23. The duo choked Sri Lanka's run flow in the middle overs although the biggest wicket of the innings came through Sneh Rana dismissed Chamari Athapaththu (31 off 24).

Once Sri Lanka's captain fell, the innings nosedived with no momentum in the scoring rate. Harshitha Samarawickrama (33 off 32) was the other viral contributor and ended up as the top-scorer but found little support. At 82/2 in the 13th over, Sri Lanka crashed in the next eight overs to finish with a below-par score. Once Sri Lanka got only 128, the result was a foregone conclusion.