July 5 (CRICKETNMORE) - Brilliant all-round performance helped India beat Sri Lanka by 16 runs in a group stage match of the ICC Women's World Cup at the County Cricket ground here on Wednesday. This is fourth consecutive victory for team India.
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\r\nChasing 233, Sri Lanka never looked in the contention as they lost their wickets at regular intervals. Middle-order players - Chamari Atapattu (25), Dilani Manodara (37) and Shashikala Siriwardene (61) -- however, displayed some good batting, but Indian bowlers soon overpowered them. Besides these, however, no other Sri Lankan batswomen stepped up to the occasion and losing wickets at the regular intervals, Sri Lanka went down to India.
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\r\nFor India, Poonam Yadav and Jhulan Goswami took two wickets each. Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bat, Deepti Sharma (78) and skipper Mithali Raj (53) helped India post what turned out to be a decent 232\/8. After a poor start by the top order batswomen, Deepti and Mithali forged a 118-run third-wicket partnership in 26 overs to stabilise the Indian innings.
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\r\nBut just when things seemed good at the middle, Deepti was sent packing in the 37th over by pacer Ama Kanchana. Deepti slammed 10 boundaries in her 110-ball knock.<\/p>\r\n\r\n