Bowlers backed up skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's brilliant half-century as India defeated Sri Lanka by 15 runs in the fifth and final T20I to complete a 5-0 series whitewash in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday (December 30).
Harmanpreet’s first fifty of the series came at a crucial time when India was reeling at 77/5. Her 43-ball 68 propelled the hosts to 175/5 in 20 overs.
Chasing the target, Hasini Perera put up a valiant fight for Sri Lanka, scoring 65 runs off 42 balls. Imesha Dulani also played a crucial knock of 50 runs (39 balls), but continuous wickets falling in the middle overs put the visitors under pressure.
The Indian bowlers maintained their grip on the match by taking wickets at crucial moments. Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Vaishnavi Sharma, and Arundhati Reddy returned with one scalp each, restricting the visitors to 160/7.
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Harmanpreet termed 2025 as a great year for her team.
“Yeah, I mean, 2025 has been really great for us. And I think it's been all the hard work we have done. And I think this year we have got the credit and now it's only about keep repeating good habits and keep winning the way we have done this year,” Kaur, who recently led India to their maiden Women’s World Cup triumph, quoted as saying.
“(Change of mindset, was it easy to adapt after the high of winning the ODI World Cup) Well, one thing is there, all of us played a lot of T20 cricket together and it was only believing in ourselves that we can do that. And everyone was very positive when sir spoke about strike-rates and then lifting our standards. So everyone was very positive about that and really happy we all came together and wanted to set that standard for us. So going forward, we can look, think about this series, what we have done and that we can do in the future also,” she added.
Reflecting on her performance as a batter and leader, Kaur said: “Well, as a batter, it's my responsibility to give that strength to our batting order and always want to contribute however my team wants. And as a captain, I'm really happy in the way we played this series.”
“And as earlier we mentioned that after ODI cricket, shifting to T20 mode was something, not easy, but everyone was so positive. Everyone was so excited to play this series after the World Cup. So really happy how things came together. And we fought for this and really happy how all things came together and we all gave our 100 percent,” she further remarked.
India have plenty of T20 cricket scheduled over the next seven months, and the captain stressed the importance of working hard and keep raising the bar.
“Yeah, definitely. This series was very important for us. That's why we want everyone to be available for this series so that later on we can see how things are going for us. Now next is WPL, which is also very important for all of us. So all are going to again be in T20 mode and hopefully we all play our best cricket and enjoy ourselves over there. And the next six months are very important for us. We just want to keep working hard, keep raising the bar for all of us and hopefully the way how things work well for us in ODI cricket, the same way things work well for in T20,” Kaur concluded.
