Clean sweep: Skipper Harmanpreet leads India to a 5-0 series victory against Sri Lanka

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur struck a fine half-century to help India complete a clean sweep of the five-match T20Is against Sri Lanka. The hosts scored a 15-run win in the final T20I in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday night. This is India’s third 5-0 win in bilateral T20Is but the first one at home. It is also a first such series loss for Sri Lanka.

Riding on Harmanpreet Kaur’s 68 and Arundhati Reddy’s 11-ball 27 at the fag end of the innings, India scored 175 for seven. The Sri Lankans began well but were unable to keep up with the asking rate and were restricted to 160 for seven with opener Hasini Perera (65; 42 balls, 8×4, 1×6) and No.3 bat Imesha Dulani (50; 39 balls, 8×4) scoring maiden half-centuries. Their wait for a victory goes into 2026.

With the series wrapped up long time ago, it was experimenting time for India in this game. They rested top batter Smriti Mandhana and Renuka Singh and brought in Sneh Rana and gave Gunalan Kamalini a chance to wear the Indian jersey. Kamalini is the 90th woman to play T20I cricket for India.

Without Smriti and the injured Jemimah Rodrigues, Indian batting was a bit weakened. And with Shafali Verma (5) falling cheaply, the onus fell on Harmanpreet to prop up the Indian score, after they were asked to bat first by Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu.

The Indians, after Shafali’s fall with just five on the board, were under tremendous pressure. New girl Kamalini hit a run-a-ball 12 with two boundaries before being trapped leg before. Harleen Deol (13) and Richa Ghosh (5) too failed to last long. To make matters worse for the hosts, they lost Deepti Sharma (7) with just 77 on the board in the 11th over of the innings.

This brought Harmanpreet and Amanjot Kaur together. The Punjabi girls strung a 61-run partnership to save India the blushes. Their stand consumed 38 balls with Harmanpreet scoring 37 and Amanjot getting 21. Harmanpreet fell four runs later for a superb 68 which came off 43 balls and contained nine fours and a six. India were 142 for seven in 17.4 overs.

The total was not too big, but they still had 14 balls on hand. It was here that Arundhati Reddy proved her worth in gold once again. The Hyderabadi along with Sneh Rana added 33 for the unbroken eight wicket partnership off those 14 balls. Arundathi contributed 24 off 8 balls and Sneh made 8 off six balls as India made 175 for seven.

Arundhati was back in the thick of action when India fielded. The pacer removed Athapaththu (2) in the second over of the innings to peg the Lankan reply. Hasini and Imesha then added 79 off just 56 balls to keep Lanka on track. Hasini contributed 28 off 17 balls while the aggressive Imesha made a 39-ball 50. But once the partnership was broken, the Indian bowlers gained ascendancy.

Deepti Sharma creates history, becomes all-time leading wicket-taker in T20Is

India women’s spinner Deepti Sharma has created history by becoming the all-time leading wicket-taker in T20I cricket. She went past Megan Shutt of Australia when she got the wicket of Nilakshika Silva. Deepti now has 152 T20I wickets, the most in the world.

Along with that, the India player has gone up to 334 international wickets across all formats, which puts her second in the all-time list. Deepti just requires two wickets to go past India legend Jhulan Goswami and England’s Katherine Sciver-Brunt, who both have 335 wickets each in Women’s cricket.

India coach Amol Mazumdar was generous in his praise for the team. “Will rate (performance in this series) very highly. I was keen to see how the team turns up after the World Cup win. We have turned up with the right spirit. The World Cup campaign was a great moment in the lives of everyone. 2025 has given us good memories, some tough moments as well but it has given us the World Cup, couldn’t ask for more. In the last two years, we have tried to play every game and every opposition to its merit. The England tour, winning both the series, gave us the confidence heading into the World Cup,” he said before the start of the game.

He also had a special word of praise for Smriti Mandhana. “Mandhana has been a special player. Amazing consistency with that fluency. A terrific cricketer, a perfect role-model in the dressing room. I was counting some of her hundreds in the last two years, and it is 11! A very special player, superb on the off side, mind-boggling,” he said.

With the T20 World Cup on the horizon later in 2026, Mazumdar is keen to see the magic continue. “We have this series, then we have the Australia tour after the WPL. WPL will give us more insights on the composition of the team. After the Australia series we also have an England tour. So, plenty of time to get our combination right,” he added.

SCOREBOARD

India: Shafali Verma c Dulani b Meepage 5, Gunalan Kamalini lbw Dilhari 12, Harleen Deol b Sewwandi 13, Harmanpreet Kaur b Dilhari 68, Richa Ghosh c Nuthyangana b Athapaththu 5, Deepti Sharma c Meepage b Athapaththu 7, Amanjot Kaur c Dilhari b Sewwandi 21, Arundathi Reddy (not out) 27, Sneh Rana (not out) 8; Extras: (NB1, W8) 9. Total: (For 7 wickets in 20 overs) 175.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-27, 3-41, 4-64, 5-77, 6-138, 7-142.

Bowling: M Madara 4-0-37-0, N Meepage 3-0-25-1, K Dilhari 2-0-11-2, I Ranaweera 4-0-39-0, R Sewwandi 4-0-42-2, C Athapaththu 3-0-21-1.

Sri Lanka: Hasini Perera b Charani 65, Chamari Athapaththu c Sharma b Reddy 2, Imesha Dulani c Verma b AB Kaur 50, Nilakshika Silva lbw Sharma 3, Kavisha Dilhari b Vaishnavi 5, Harshitha Samarawickrama c Deol b Rana 8, Kaushini Nuthayangana (run out) 1, Rashmika Sewwanid (not out) 14, Malki Madara (not out) 5; Extras: (B4, W3) 7. Total: (For 7 wickets in 20 overs) 160.

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-86, 3-100, 4-107, 5-132, 6-140, 7-140.

Bowling: Deepti Sharma 4-0-28-1, Arundhati Reddy 2-0-16-1, Sneh Rana 4-0-31-1, Vaishnavi Sharma 4-0-33-1, Shree Charani 4-0-31-1, Amanjot Kaur 2-0-17-1.