After the retirement of Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur has been entrusted with the responsibility to lead the team. Currently, the Indian side is on tour to Sri Lanka for three T20Is and three ODIs. India have already won the T20I series by 2-1 and all eyes were set on the first ODI between these two Asian women’s cricket teams.
Let’s look at how the teams fared in the first ODI between these two sides:
India Women vs Sri Lanka Women’s first ODI
After winning the toss, the Sri Lanka captain Chamari Atapaththu chose to bat first. However, she was not able to lead the team from the front as she got dismissed when her team’s score was just 13 runs in the third over.
The other opener, Hasini Perera, was able to do justice to her position with a 37 off 54 before Deepti Sharma sent her back. The middle-order batter Nilakshi de Silva was Sri Lanka’s top scorer with 43 off of 63. Harshitha Madavi also came up with a notable contribution of 28 runs off 54 balls.
Deepti Sharma, with a bowling spell of 8.2-25-3, was India’s best bowler. She was also helped by Renuka Singh (6-29-3).
In pursuit of the run-chase, India also got off to a poor start with Smriti Mandhana departing for just 9/1. However, the Indian opener Shafali Verma played a handy knock of 35 in 40 balls and took the innings forward before departing.
It was, however, the Indian captain, Harmanpreet Kaur (44 off of 63) and Harleen Deol (34 off of 40) who steadied India’s innings. In the end, Deepti Sharma (22 off of 41) and Pooja Vastrakar (21 off of 19) took the Indian team across the finish line, helping the team win the first of three ODIs against the Sri Lanka Women team.
India and Sri Lanka play the second ODI of this series on July 4th.
Sri Lanka Women: 171/10
Nilakshi de Silva: 43(63), Hasini Perera: 37(54)
Inoka Ranaweera: 10-39-4, Oshadi Ranasinghe: 8-34-2
India Women: 176/6
Harmanpreet Kaur: 44(63), Shafali Verma: 35(40)
Deepti Sharma: 8.2-25-3, Renuka Singh: 6-29-3
