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SLW won by 7 wickets

2:24 PM IST, 9:54 PM local time | Sri Lanka Women win by 7 wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series. 

After being mauled in the ODIs, Sri Lanka have bounced back emphatically to hand the World Champions a thrashing in their first T20I since the triumph in UAE. New Zealand fielded four debutants today and the lack of experience oozed throughout their batting innings. The start was effervescent. While Georgia Plimmer got out cheaply, Suzie Bates seemed to be in fantastic touch during her 14-ball-21. A couple of robust straight drives from her were the highlight of the first six overs of the innings. 

However, things went downhill quickly post the powerplay. New Zealand struggled to garner any sort of momentum in the middle overs. They went through a 9 over stretch without scoring a single boundary. While the spinners were majorly responsible for this stranglehold, a seamer stood tall. Debutant Malki Madara returned a three-fer including the all important wicket of Suzie Bates.

For White Ferns, Emma McLeod top-scored with a 46-ball-44. While she was exuberant with her running between the wickets. Her failure to find boundaries on a consistent basis hurt the team. Wickets falling down in clumps at the other end did not do any good either. In the end, New Zealand managed a score that was always going to be difficult to defend. 

Things became even tougher, when Chamari Athapaththu got going. The Sri Lanka skipper had struggled to put up a score of substance in the ODIs. However, today she looked determined. Anything loose outside the off stump was gashed away ferociously to the boundary. The fielders putting down some regulation takes further added to New Zealand's woes.

Experienced seamer Jess Kerr shone brightly with her 2/18 in 4 overs. But alas, there just weren't enough runs on the board for her to make it problematic for Sri Lanka. Special mention to Kavisha Dilhari, who bowled a frugal spell in the middle overs and also hit a couple of exquisite boundaries with the bat in hand before getting run out. In the end, it is a comfortable win for the visiting team.

Malki Madara (POTM): "I am happy about what I was able to do in my first game for the country. (on bowling cutters) It was in my plans, I practiced hard to bowl those cutters to be able to deliver them in crunch situations. 

Suzie Bates was my favourite wicket of the three I picked tonight."

Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka Women Captain): "Finally, I scored some runs and the bowlers did well in powerplay and in death overs. We executed the right plans at the right time. 

I batted through the innings but others also chipped in, they played with intent and played well. (On bowling performance) Special mention to Malki Madara, the debutant. She handled the pressure well and other bowlers too executed their plans to perfection. 

(On youngsters) As captain I am happy as they are playing good cricket in domestic cricket and at the age group level. We want to build a team for the future. We are on the right track. 

(On her own knock) Yeah, exactly. They bowled well to me in ODIs. They executed their plans. I played better in this game. They got me out on bouncers in the ODIs a couple of times so I worked on that in the nets. I executed my plans at the right time."

Suzie Bates (New Zealand captain): "Disappointed to play like that in the first game. We started off well in the powerplay. Emma McLeod on debut did well. She ran hard between the wickets. That is what you like to see. But we did not have enough on the board.

The new ball swings here, but in the middle overs today Kavisha Dilhari got the ball to grip and turn and we could not put her away. We have to take lessons from this. Some of our mainstays are missing and we are relying on our junior players.

But if I am brutally honest, we did not target the stumps enough with the ball. You cannot do that against Athapaththu."

That brings us to the end of our coverage for this match. The two teams will lock horns again at the same venue on Sunday. Join us at 1:45 AM IST (9:00 AM local time) for that game. For now, it is the troika of Darpan Tikiya, Bishal Mandal and Ajay Raghava signing off.