Sport - Cricket

India thumps Sri Lanka

Colombo: Jhulan Goswami added another feather to her cap by becoming the fourth bowler in the history of women’s cricket to take 100 ODI wickets as India defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the penultimate round match of the Asia Cup here on Thursday.

Jhulan completed the century of wickets in her 82nd ODI when she had Deepika Rasangika caught by Asha Rawat off the penultimate delivery of Sri Lanka’s last over of the innings as it was restricted to 123 for nine.

Asha and captain Mithali Raj then put on 84 runs for an unbroken third-wicket partnership as India achieved the victory for the loss of two wickets in 26 overs. Asha remained unbeaten on 56 (71b, 8x4, 1x6), while Mithali was 36 not out (44b, 5x4).

The day, however, belonged to Jhulan who won the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award last year.

Jhulan entered the tournament with 96 wickets and came into this match requiring two wickets to join Neetu David as the second India to achieve the feat.

Australia’s Cathryn Fitzpatrick, who took 180 wickets in her illustrious 14-year career, leads the list of the most successful bowlers, followed by Neetu (135) and Clare Taylor of England (102).

Elsewhere, off-spinner Javeria Khan recorded stunning figures of 8.1-4-8-6 as Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by 38 runs to end its 12-match losing streak in the history of this tournament.

Javeria got into action when Bangladesh reached 49 for three while chasing 111 for victory. The off-spinner proved almost unplayable as Bangladesh lost its last seven wickets for 23 runs with Javeria taking six of them, to be bowled out for 72.

The scores: Pakistan 110 in 44.4 overs bt Bangladesh 72 33.1 overs (Javeria Khan six for eight; Sri Lanka 123 for nine in 50 overs lost to India 124 for two in 26 overs (Asha Rawat 56 n.o.) — PTI

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