Harmanpreet's substitute Radha Yadav takes catch of the T20 World Cup 2024 in India vs Sri Lanka match
Radha Yadav had a great outing as a substitute fielder. She held on to two more catches towards the end of the Sri Lanka chase.
Substitute fielder Radha Yadav grabbed the catch of the tournament in the India vs Sri Lanka Women's World Cup 2024 Group A match in Dubai on Wednesday. It happened in the second ball of the Sri Lanka chase when Vishmi Gunaratne took a couple of steps towards medium pacer Renuka Singh Thakur to negate her big in-swing but ended up hitting it up in the air. Radha Yadav, who is in the field in place of captain Harmanpreet Kaur, tried to line herself up under the swaying ball. She took a few quick steps and, despite having Jemimah Rodrigues close to her periphery, did not hesitate to put in a full-length dive and hold on to the ball with her extended right hand.
The brilliance of the catch could be judged by the way the Indian fielders celebrated the wicket. Almost all the inner-ring fielders ran towards her to congratulate her for the fantastic catch. It gave India their first wicket as Gunaratne had to take the long back for a two-ball duck.
Radha Yadav had a great outing as a substitute fielder. She held on to two more catches towards the end of the Sri Lanka chase.
Watch:
India piled up a tournament-high of 172-3 from their 20 overs before Sri Lanka was dismissed for 90 off the penultimate ball of the match.
India now have two wins in three games ahead of their final group match with six-time champions Australia on Sunday.
Just the top two teams from each of the five-nation pools make the semi-finals.
Mandhana made 50 from 38 balls with four fours and a six to register her 27th T20 international fifty.
She also shared a 98-run opening stand with Shafali Verma (43) before Kaur put on a blistering display of shot-making.
The captain reached her 13th half-century in the format off 27 balls and finished undefeated on 52 with eight boundaries and a six.
Just as important for India, Kaur showed little effect of the neck injury she had suffered in the win over Pakistan at the weekend.
In reply, Asian champions Sri Lanka collapsed to 6-3 inside three overs before Kavisha Dilhari (21) and Anushka Sanjeewani (20) put on 37 for the fourth wicket.
But they always struggled to keep up the run rate with Ama Kanchana (19) the only other player to reach double figures.
For India, fast bowler Arundhati Reddy and leg-spinner Asha Sobhana returned identical figures of 3-19 in their four overs.
The result means that Sri Lanka have no chance of making the semi-finals after three defeats.