Follow UsThe Indian team, led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, suffered hiccups, but ultimately performed according to their standards to defeat Sri Lanka in the tournament opener of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in India.
Having sent India in to bat, Sri Lanka started extremely well as they got Smriti Mandhana dismissed early, caught at deep point. As a result, the slow-scoring batting pair of Harleen Deol and Pratika Rawal played within themselves, and the innings was going nowhere with the score being 81 in the 20th over.
Skipper Kaur came and tried to score quickly, but Harleen’s dismissal in the 26th over (caught out by Kavisha Dilhari at extra cover) was followed by Jemimah Rodrigues and Kaur falling in the same over to left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera. That was the time when India were 124/6 and in serious trouble after Richa Ghosh also departed in the next over.
India needed a serious comeback from there to even stand a chance in the game, and the innings was rescued by a brilliant 103-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Amanjot Kaur (57 off 56) and Deepti Sharma (53 off 53). The crucial stand pulled India back from a precarious position caused by a devastating spell from Sri Lankan spinner Ranaweera (4/46), who ripped through the middle order. A late cameo from Sneh Rana also swelled the total, allowing India to post a strong 269/8.
Chasing a DLS-revised target of 271, Sri Lanka started aggressively, largely thanks to their captain Chamari Athapaththu (43 off 47). However, once Athapaththu departed, the Indian spinners, led by Deepti Sharma (3/54), Sneh Rana (2/32), applied an incessant chokehold. The required run rate soared as the Sri Lankan batters kept getting dismissed, and ultimately India won by 59 runs (DLS method).
The win would be crucial from the NRR perspective as well, since this is a round robin tournament with the best four playing the semi-final. India will now play their next game on October 5 against Pakistan in Colombo.