[Watch] Chamari Athapaththu strikes twice in an over to dismiss Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma in the Women’s T20 World Cup
Sri Lanka's veteran all-rounder Chamari Athapaththu dismissed India's Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Varma off consecutive deliveries in the 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup. It happened in the league stage match between India and Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai.
The twin dismissals occurred in the 13th over. Shafali took a single off the first ball and handed the strike over to Smriti Mandhana, who smashed a boundary to bring up her first half-century of the tournament. What followed was chaos in the middle as Mandhana was caught short of her mark by some excellent fielding. It was followed by Verma handing Vishmi Gunaratne the easiest of catches.
Take a look at the two dismissals here:
Team India Women came into the 13th over 93/0 but ended it on 98/2. The twin dismissals brought skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues to the middle.
Team India eyeing a big win against Sri Lanka to secure one of the two semi-final berths in 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup
India Women won the toss and elected to bat first. Coming off the back of a win against arch-rivals Pakistan, they started off well, scoring 41 runs in the powerplay. The middle-overs phase saw them take the attack up by a notch.
However, the double strike of Smriti Mandhana (50 off 38) and Shafali Verma (45 off 40) saw a temporary drop in the scoring rate. Jemimah Rodrigues (16 off 10) was dismissed soon after as Harmanpreet Kaur scored a brisk half-century. Her knock helped the India Women register the highest total of the tournament.
Sri Lanka Women need 173 runs to win in 20 overs. India Women need to win this by a big margin to boost their net run rate and their chances for a spot in the semi-finals