4th T20I: Harmanpreet Kaur's special mention for Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma after India's win over Sri Lanka

NEW DELHI: India registered a commanding 30-run victory over Sri Lanka in the fourth women’s T20I on Sunday, but skipper Harmanpreet Kaur acknowledged she had to urge her bowlers to speed up their overs towards the end to avoid a potential slow over-rate penalty. With the win, India moved to an unassailable 4-0 lead in the five-match series and will head into the fifth and final T20I aiming for a 5-0 clean sweep. The fifth T20I will be played on Tuesday.



Harmanpreet appeared visibly animated late in Sri Lanka’s chase as she repeatedly instructed her teammates during the closing stages of the innings.



Explaining her reaction at the post-match presentation, she said, "We were getting short in time and I wanted everyone be on time. I didn't want three fielders outside the in-field. I try to improve from my mistakes."

Earlier, the hosts laid the foundation for the win through a record partnership between Smriti Mandhana (80) and Shafali Verma (79), before spinner Vaishnavi Sharma returned impressive figures of 2/24 to seal the result and take India to a 4-0 lead in the series.

"(We) should give credit to Shafali and Smriti and then me and Richa finished well."

With the series already secured, Harmanpreet hinted at the possibility of further changes for the final T20I, scheduled to be played on Tuesday.

"We thought we will give chance to Harleen (Deol), but (given) how it went (today), we sent (in) Richa early. Smriti and Shafali didn't let Harleen bat," she said.





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