That's a wrap from today's ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 encounter, where India secured a crucial victory over Sri Lanka to keep their semifinal hopes alive. The non-stop action continues with another exciting matchup on the horizon with Bangladesh Women taking on West Indies Women on October 10, 2024, at 2 pm GMT. Join us an hour prior for an exclusive pre-match build-up. Until then, goodbye and we look forward to catching you again soon!

Chamari Athapaththu, the losing skipper of Sri Lanka Women says that their side failed with both bat and ball and they need to bounce back in the next and get the basics right. Mentions that the first game is really important in such tournaments and it became difficult to lift the side after losing the first one but such things happen in cricket and they have one game remaining and they'll be looking to bounce back against New Zealand Women. Closes by saying that they need to improve on their batting and bowling.

The victorious skipper of India Women, Harmanpreet Kaur is also the Player Of The Match. Harmanpreet Kaur expresses her satisfaction with the team's performance. She emphasized that maintaining momentum was key, crediting Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma for providing the strong start they had planned. Harmanpreet Kaur highlights their focus on preserving wickets, praising their disciplined approach. After the quick dismissals of the openers, she and Jemimah Rodrigues concentrated on keeping the run rate steady between seven to eight runs per over. Harmanpreet Kaur says they simply "went with the flow" from there, ensuring a commanding total for the team. Harmanpreet Kaur also expresses satisfaction with her team's all-around performance. She notes that the team "ticked all the boxes" in batting, bowling, and most importantly, fielding. Kaur emphasizes that their focus on fielding paid off, as they successfully took all their catches during the match, a critical area they had been working on. Feeling good about their collective effort, she highlights how this complete performance boosts the team's confidence.

Stay tuned for the presentation ...

Earlier in the day, India Women's batting unit finally clicked, posting a formidable 172 on the board. The platform was set by Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, who shared a 98-run opening stand in just 13 overs, laying the groundwork for a sizeable total. Jemimah Rodrigues maintained the momentum with a purposeful knock, before Harmanpreet Kaur took charge, scoring an unbeaten half-century to steer India to a competitive score. Sri Lanka's bowling struggled to contain India's batters, with Chamari Athapaththu and Ama Kanchana claiming the only wickets to fall, while poor fielding cost them dearly, gifting India Women valuable runs.

India Women's bowling was unrelenting, with Asha Sobhana and Arundhati Reddy taking three each and having identical figures of 3 for 19 after 4 overs. Renuka Singh Thakur took a couple while Shreyanka Patil and Deepti Sharma scalped one each. India's bowling depth proved too much for Sri Lanka Women and their exceptional fielding took it to the next level.

Sri Lanka Women's pursuit of a daunting target set by Asian giants India began disastrously, with a sluggish start and wickets tumbling rapidly. The damage was done inside the Powerplay, as they crumbled to 3/6 inside the Powerplay, virtually sealing their fate. India Women, keen to bolster their Net Run Rate, aimed to wrap up the innings swiftly. However, Kaveesha Dilhari and Anushka Sanjeewani momentarily stalled the Indian charge with a 37-run fourth-wicket partnership. The respite was short-lived, as Sri Lanka's batting collapsed once the partnership was broken, leading to a cluster of wickets and them eventually losing by 84 runs.

India's all-round brilliance paid dividends as they secured a convincing 82-run triumph. This resounding win significantly enhances their Net Run Rate, enabling them to leapfrog New Zealand Women and closing the gap on Pakistan Women in the standings. This also happens to be India's biggest win in terms of margin of victory, the previous being 79 runs as per the on-air commentator, Ian Bishop.

Inoka Ranaweera walks out last to bat for Sri Lanka Women.