Shafali Verma's blazing 79 gives India series win

India Women sealed the five-match T20I series against Sri Lanka Women with a dominating eight-wicket victory in the third T20I at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. After restricting Sri Lanka to 112/7, India cruised to victory with 40 balls to spare courtesy an unbeaten 79 off just 42 balls from Shafali Verma.

Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and inserted the opposition. Her bowlers had Sri Lanka down to 32 for 3 inside the PowerPlay. Renuka Thakur's first over cost 12 runs, but she was quickly replaced by Deepti Sharma, who accounted for Chamari Athapaththu for a 12-ball 3.

The Sri Lankan middle order showed brief resistance as Imesha Dulani top-scored with 27 off 32 balls and Kavisha Dilhari contributed 20 off 13. However, wickets continued to fall. Renuka trapped Nilakshika Silva lbw for 4, and Deepti claimed her 150th T20I wicket when she had Dilhari caught. Renuka finished with a wicket-maiden as Sri Lanka crawled to 112.

Chasing a modest target, India lost Smriti Mandhana early, trapped lbw by Kavisha Dilhari for 1. Verma had already raced to 25 off 14, having begun the innings with a six and two fours in the first over. She raced to her half-century off just 24 balls, smashing eight fours and two sixes.

Jemimah Rodrigues managed only 9 off 15 before being bowled by Dilhari. But by then, the match was all but over. Shafali batted through with Harmanpreet Kaur for company to close out the match and the series win with nearly seven overs to spare.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 112/7 in 20 overs (Kavisha Dilhari 20; Renuka Singh 4-21, Deepti Sharma 3-18) lost to India 115/2 in 13.2 overs (Shafali Verma 79*; Kavisha Dilhari 2-18) by eight wickets.