SL-W vs IND-W | Smriti Mandhana lauds bowling unit for India's emphatic series victory against Sri Lanka

The Indian women's team defeated their Sri Lankan counterparts by five wickets in the second T20I in Dambulla on Saturday, thereby taking an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match series. 

Batting first, the home side posted a modest total of 125 runs in their allotted 20 overs, which was chased successfully by the visitors with five balls to spare, courtesy of two useful thirties by the veteran batters Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur. 

In the post-match press conference, the Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana highly applauded the efforts of the Indian bowlers in the match and reckoned their bowling as one of the significant reasons behind India's series victory. The stylish southpaw stressed that the Indian bowlers didn't need any additional scaffolding as they succeeded by sticking to the pre-decided game plan. 

Mandhana also confessed that the Indian fielders gifted a few runs to the opposition through some misfields and expected them to improve their fielding in the upcoming encounters. 

"They (bowlers) did a really good job today and also in the last match to defend 139. We didn't have to tell them much. It was just about following our game plan as a bowling unit and sticking to it. We knew one or two wickets here, and there will get us back in the game. Our bowlers were really patient with it," Mandhana said. 

"Definitely, we leaked a few runs with some misfields here and there, but I'm sure we will come back stronger," she added. 

Chasing 126, India got off to a flier as they smashed 52 runs in the powerplay, thanks to two blistering 17-run-cameos from Shafali Verma and Sabbhineni Meghana. Mandhana, who scored a well-controlled 34-ball-39 with the help of eight gorgeous boundaries, said that although the wicket was on the slower side, run-scoring became easier for her after she got used to the pace and bounce of the surface. 

The Mumbai-born also revealed that the Indian batters concentrated more on rotating the strike in the middle overs as they were chasing a moderate target. 

"It was keeping a bit low, and of course, it was on the slower side. So it wasn't an easy pitch to bat on. You had to really work hard on your runs but once you get used to the pace and bounce of the wicket, runs came in," Mandhana said. 

"Later on after the powerplay, it was more about singles and doubles and not whom to attack as we had only 126 to get. It was about rotating strike and dealing in one and twos," the 25-year-old concluded.