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Mumbai: Even as the near-full north stand at the Brabourne stadium cheered lustily, the crowd failed to rouse the spirits of an uninspired Indian outfit as the hosts succumbed to Sri Lanka by 138 runs on Tuesday.
In the process, India lost not only the final Group 'A' match of the 10th ICC Women's World Cup but also failed to make the cut for the Super Six. While for the hosts it was their worst-ever World Cup show, for the Lankans, who had never beaten India, it was a fabulous first. India will now play Pakistan for the seventh place at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, on Thursday.
Chasing 283 to win or 251 to reach the Super Six, the opening duo of T Murugesan and Poonam Raut tried to emulate their performance against the Windies. However, just after her first boundary, Raut fell lbw to Kaushalya Lokusooriya. Coming in at 6 for 1, skipper Mithali Raj (20) played a cameo before she too was trapped leg before by left-arm-seamer Udeshika Prabodhani.
And when vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur too departed, getting caught at point by Chamari Atapattu off Chamani Seneviratna, the fight went out of the Indians.
With the Sri Lankans striking at regular intervals and the Indian batters struggling to lift the run-rate, it was a point of no return for the hosts as they were bundled out for 144.
Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and batted. Having won off the last ball against England at the same venue, one would have expected the Islanders to chase. But as opener Atapattu drove the first delivery of the match by Jhulan to the extra cover fence, she seemed to vindicate the team management's choice. She couldn't do much after that, though, as she fell to a smart catch by Mithali at first slip. Thereafter, Deepika Rasangika (84) and Yasoda Mendis (55) stitched together a breezy partnership of 117 runs that contained crisp drives to the fence.
Mithali tried to change the field and swap the bowlers around, but nothing worked for her. By the time Gauhar Sultana had Mendis caught at mid-on, the damage had been done. Captain Sashikala Siriwardene (59) kept the momentum going, but it was the explosive hitting of all-rounder Lokusooriya (56, 6x4, 3x6) that punctured India's hopes of staying alive.
The only highlight for India on Tuesday was former skipper Goswami becoming only the second women's bowler to get to 150 ODI wickets.
Brief scores
Sri Lanka women 282 for 5 (Rasangika 84, Siriwardene 59, Kaushalya 56*, Mendis 55)
India women 144 (Malhotra 38, Seneviratna 2-10)
Result Sri Lanka women won by 138 runs
