All-round Deepti Sharma leads India to 59-run win over Sri Lanka in ODI World Cup opener

Deepti has the last laugh

Sri Lanka got off to a solid start in their chase, reaching 45/1 at the end of the 9-over powerplay. Importantly, Athapaththu was still in the middle, and the ball was pinging off her bat. Sri Lanka might not be solely dependent on their talisman anymore, but they still tend to succeed more when she delivers. In the pre-match press conference, she had spoken about how much she was looking forward to contests with Indian bowlers, because there is a familiarity that goes both ways, through all these years of international cricket and more recently through WPL.

She was itching for that contest, and when she saw her UP Warriorz captain, Deepti, come into the attack, Athapaththu decided to give her the charge. In the offspinner’s first over, she welcomed her with a lovely lofted shot down the ground, which flew flat for a six over long off. It was then followed by a four as well. In Deepti’s next over, there was a four followed by another six over long off. Deepti’s figures read 2-0-23-0 after that mini assault.

But in the next over, the all rounder hit back. Around the wicket, she fired in a quicker one that deceived Athapaththu for length and flight, and nearly yorked her, before hitting the stumps. Deepti understood what the moment was for her and India, letting out a couple of big roars towards the Sri Lankan captain’s direction. Deepti finished with a much more pleasant-looking 3/54 in 10 overs. The next crucial breakthrough came from Charani, the young left-arm spinner dismissed one of the in-form batters for Sri Lanka in Harshitha. A good length ball was not ideal to play the sweep, and in addition, it gripped and turned too, and the left-handed No. 3 batter missed the line completely and was trapped in front.

As the spinners choked Sri Lanka’s run-scoring, Nilakshika Silva still gave hope. She was breathing some life back into the innings with a 28-ball 35 that included four fours and a crisply hit six. And then Rana, who was perhaps the best Indian bowler on the night without the deserved rewards, got the middle-order batter playing down the wrong line, attempting a scoop, and getting bowled. Rana finished with 2/32 on the night.

Batting concerns to address

The afternoon had begun with emotional yet cheery tribute performances to the late icon Zubeen Garg, followed by a rousing national anthem rendition by Shreya Ghoshal in front of an impressive turnout (later confirmed to be a total of 22,843, a new record attendance for a league match in any women’s World Cup, T20, or ODI).

Smriti Mandhana’s early departure dampened the mood a little, then Harleen Deol and Pratika Rawal didn’t provide too many reasons to turn up the volume during their dot-ball-heavy stand. But things started picking up from the 16th over mark. After Pratika lost her wicket just when she started to find an extra gear, Harmanpreet Kaur was showing signs of being in for a big one.

Then came Inoka Ranaweera’s 26th over that completely changed the mood inside the ACA stadium. Harleen chipped the first ball straight to cover for a soft dismissal. Jemimah Rodrigues walked in briskly but was on her way back in no time, bowled by a dream left-arm spinner’s delivery that spun away. Later in the over, Harmanpreet hit a late cut straight into the keeper’s gloves. It put India in a spot of bother, but they managed to dig their way out.

The Pratika-Harleen partnership has been a point of concern for a while, in that they are both far too similar in their approach. It is something to address as they turn their attention to Pakistan in Colombo on Sunday.

Brief Scores: India 269/8 in 47 overs (Amanjot Kaur 57, Deepti Sharma 53; Inoka Ranaweera 4/46) beat Sri Lanka 211 all out in 45.4 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 43, Deepti 3-54, Sneh Rana 2-32, N Shree Charani 2-37)