Chasing 233, Sri Lanka never looked in the contention as they lost their wickets at regular intervals. Middle-order players — Chamari Atapattu (25), Dilani Manodara (37) and Shashikala Siriwardene (61) — however, displayed some good batting, but Indian bowlers soon overpowered them.
Besides these, however, no other Sri Lankan batswomen stepped up to the occasion and losing wickets at the regular intervals, Sri Lanka went down to India.
For India, Poonam Yadav and Jhulan Goswami took two wickets each.
Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bat, Deepti Sharma (78) and skipper Mithali Raj (53) helped India post what turned out to be a decent 232/8.
After a poor start by the top order batswomen, Deepti and Mithali forged a 118-run third-wicket partnership in 26 overs to stabilise the Indian innings.
But just when things seemed good at the middle, Deepti was sent packing in the 37th over by pacer Ama Kanchana. Deepti slammed 10 boundaries in her 110-ball knock.
New batswoman Jhulan Goswami (9) was dismissed in the 40th over and in the same over Miltali was adjudged leg before wicket off Slow left-arm orthodox Inoka Ranaweera.
Middle-order batswomen Harmanpreet Kaur (20) and Veda Krishnamurthy (29) added 50 runs for the sixth wicket before both players were dismissed by pacer S. Weerakkody in the same over.
Lower-order batswomen Sushma Verma (11) and Mansi Joshi (2) struggled in the slog overs, and as a result Sri Lanka managed to keep India below the 250-run mark. For Sri Lanka, Weerakkody scalped three wickets while Ranaweera took two wickets.
Brief scores: India 232/8 (Deepti Sharma 78 Mithali Raj 53; Weerakkody 3/28) against Sri Lanka: 216/7 (Dilani Manodara 37, Shashikala Siriwardene 61; Poonam Yadav 2/23)
England crush S Africa
England scored a mammoth 373 and despite a strong reply South Africa fell 68 runs short to give the hosts a great win. Sarah Taylor and Tammy Beaumont both scored huge centuries and shared a second-wicket stand of 275 – the highest in Women’s World Cup history and the second-highest in all women’s ODIs.
South Africa did put up a fight, becoming the first team to score more than 300 while chasing second, thanks to half-centuries from Laura Wolvaardt, Lizelle Lee and Chloe Tryon. But eventually they fell short.
Brief Scores: England women 373 for 5 (Beaumont 148, Taylor 147, Kapp 3-77) beat South Africa 305 for 9 (Lee 72, Wolvaardt 67, Hazell 3-70, Knight 2-52) by 68 runs
Australia crush pakistan, make it four wins in a row
The defending champions crushed Pakistan by 159 runs and moved closer to a semi-final spot. The best part for the Aussies was that they did it without their captain Meg Lanning, who sat out of the game because of a shoulder niggle.
Australia didn’t have the best of starts. But then Elyse Villani and Ellyse Perry resurrected the innings and Alyssa Healy provided the boost in the end.
Pakistan couldn’t muster a god enough response. Except for their ever-dependable skipper Sana Mir, who scored 45, the rest didn’t show up.
Brief Scores: Australia 290 for 8 (Perry 66, Healy 63*, Villani 59, Mir 3-49) beat Pakistan 131 (Mir 45, Beams 3-23, Gardner 3-28) by 159 runs