Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 26 (IANS) The in-form opener Shafali Verma smashed an unbeaten 79 off 42 balls to power India Women to an eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka Women in the third T20I of the five-match series and secure an unassailable 3-0 series lead at the Greenfield International Stadium on Friday.

After Renuka Singh Thakur's 4-21 and Deepti Sharma's 3-18 restricted Sri Lanka to 112/7, Shafali tore apart the bowling attack with a splendid display of strokeplay -- smashing 11 fours and three sixes in a blistering knock that guided India home with 6.4 overs to spare.

Despite losing her opening partner, Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues to Kavisha Dilhari, Shafali dominated from the outset to ensure India got another convincing win. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur contributed with a composed knock of 21 not out, as India got their fourth consecutive T20I series win over Sri Lanka.

Shafali started cautiously by playing three dot balls in the first over, but then unleashed a brutal assault on the Sri Lankan bowlers. Her show began by lofting and pulling Malsha Shehani for six and four, before bringing out the same shots against Nimesha Madushani for a brace of boundaries.

But India suffered a big blow when vice-captain Smriti Mandhana was trapped lbw by off-spinner Kavisha Dilhari for just one. Attempting a sweep, Smriti missed the delivery as the ball spun away and struck her front pad, with ball-tracking confirming it would crash into the leg stump.

The left-hander reviewed immediately but had to depart for another low score in the series, leaving Sri Lanka buoyant. With Jemimah struggling to time the ball after surviving an lbw appeal on her first ball, Shafali was magnificent in driving, pulling, and lofting, before getting her fifty in just 24 balls with a drive past mid-on off Malki Madara.

Kavisha returned to claim Jemimah’s wicket when she attempted a sweep off a full delivery tossed up outside off-stump, but the ball took an under-edge that rattled the three sticks. With Harmanpreet getting her boundaries via leg-side shots, Shafali muscled three ruthless boundaries before finishing off the chase with a lofted four to give India another dominant victory.

Brief scores:

Sri Lanka 112/7 in 20 overs (Imesha Dulani 27, Hasini Perera 25; Renuka Singh Thakur 4-21, Deepti Sharma 3-18) lost to India 115/2 in 13.2 overs (Shafali Verma 79 not out, Harmanpreet Kaur 21 not out; Kavisha Dilhari 2-18) by eight wickets

--IANS

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