Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur headline India's comprehensive win

An enterprising unbeaten partnership of 117 from Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur helped India register their second win in the Tri-series at Buffalo Park in East London on Monday (January 23).



Opting to bat first on her return from illness, Harmanpreet walked into bat when Yastika Bhatia and Harleen Deol fell after getting a start with the score reading 52 for 2 in the ninth over.



Having faced only 16 balls until then, Mandhana was batting on a sedate mode with 18 runs to her name. But once Harmanpreet hit a couple of boundaries early, the southpaw matched her skipper with two fours. Mandhana then went one better with three fours off Shabika Gajnabi while also bringing up her 20th fifty plus score in the format.



Four boundaries came from the 18th over as the experienced duo took on the bowling of Shamilia Connell. In the next over, Mandhana launched Afy Fletcher for a maximum over wide long-off and Harmanpreet got to her fifty in the final over and then finished the innings with a four through the off-side. 



India ended with the score of 167 for 2 with the pair adding 117 off 70 balls for the third wicket. Mandhana made 74 not out off 51 balls, while Harmanpreet struck at a strike rate of 160 during her unbeaten 56.



Chasing 168 for a win against an array of spinners, West Indies struggled to get a move on in the first half of the innings. Deepti Sharma struck with a couple of wickets and when Rajeshwari Gayakwad removed Gajnabi, Windies were reeling at 25 for 3 in 6.2 overs.



Post the drinks break, West Indies tried to go after the bowlers. They had immediate success with Hayley Matthews and Shemaine Campbelle smashing Devika Vaidya for four boundaries. 40 runs came in the first four overs after the break and it seemed like Windies could make a run for the target.



However, Radha Yadav bowled a frugal spell and also picked up the wicket of Campbelle  - courtesy of a great catch at the boundary from Amanjot Kaur - to make sure that West Indies would fall way short of the target. Radha finished with 1 for 10 from her four overs.



Brief Scores: India 167/2 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 74*, Harmanpreet Kaur 56*) beat West Indies 112/4 in 20 overs (Shemaine Campbelle 47, Hayley Matthews 34*; Deepti Sharma 2/29) by 56 runs POTM: Smriti Mandhana