New Delhi: Indian women’s cricket team won the first game on their tour of Sri Lanka. In the first T20I game bowlers from both teams shined in the low-scoring game. India maintained their unbeaten streak as Sri Lanka is yet to defeat India at home.
India won the toss and chose to bat. On a slow pitch, Sri Lanka used its spinners well and got early wickets. Oshadi Ranasinghe came to bowl the fourth over and took two consecutive wickets of Smriti Mandhana and Sabbhineni Meghana to leave the Indian side 17/2. It was then Shafali Verma and Harmanpreet Kaur who stabilised the innings and ensured that the top order does not collapse. Soon Shafali got out after scoring a run-a-ball 31 and Kaur followed with a score of 22(20).
It was Jemimah Rodrigues who scored 36*(27) and kept the Indian innings going. Rodrigues along with Deepti Sharma powered the innings to a fighting total of 138/6. The pair gave India a dream finish by hitting Kavisha Dilhari for 20 runs in the final over. Deepti Sharma played a fine cameo of 17*(8) hitting at the strike rate of 212.5.
India started well as Deepti Sharma led Sri Lanka to 1/1 in the second over. But, it was the Indian spinners who outshined the Sri Lankan batters. Radha Yadav, making a comeback to the team, took two wickets in the seventh over. India bowled a total of 12 overs of spin including Harmanpreet and Shafali bowling two overs each. Shafali Verma also took her maiden international wicket by dismissing Kanchana.
Kavisha Dilhari played well with the bat and scored 47*(49). There was no one at the other end who could stand with her for a partnership and hence Sri Lankan women could score only 104/5. India won by 34 runs and Jemimah Rodrigues was named the ‘Player of the Match’.
India is now 1-0 up in the 3-match T20I series and the next game will be played on June 25.
