ICC Women’s World Cup: Mithali Raj credits spinners for India’s victory vs Sri Lanka

Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma’s 118-run third-wicket partnership led the way as India continued their unbeaten run at the ICC Women’s World Cup with a 16-run victory over Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

Captain Mithali plundered four boundaries to record her 48th One-Day International (ODI) half-century at the County Ground in Derby as youngster Deepti excelled at the crease for her sixth.

READ | ICC Women’s World Cup: Deepti Sharma, Mithali Raj shine as India beat Sri Lanka

Two back-to-back wickets saw Sri Lanka stun their opposition’s growing total as India set a target of 233, but early wickets for Jhulan Goswami and Poonam Yadav set the tone for their chase.

4wins in 4 games👏Awesome performance @BCCIWomen 👌Keep it going👍 #WWC17

— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) July 5, 2017

A well-deserved 50 for Dilani Manodara highlighted Sri Lanka’s fightback, but India held out for their fourth win from four.

“In the middle overs we really pulled ourselves and the dot balls pushed them to score in the end. Overall, our spinners did quite well,” said Mithali.

READ | Full cricket score, India vs Sri Lanka, ICC Women’s World Cup 2017: IND beat SL

“Cricket has evolved over the years because now we need to have more all-rounders, with bowlers who can bat in the slog overs and batsmen who can pick some wickets. I’ve always enjoyed batting and stepping up when it’s required.”

Congratulations @BCCIWomen on their 4th consecutive win in #WWC17 Brilliant cricket once again from @M_Raj03 and her Team ✌️👍

— Manoj Tiwary (@tiwarymanoj) July 5, 2017

Sri Lanka have now lost all four of their games.

“We have had good matches against India, so I’m disappointed about our performance today, but we hope to do our best in the next game. We made a lot of mistakes,” captain Inoka Ranaweera said.