VISAKHAPATNAM: In what was their first outing since lifting the Women’s Cricket World Cup on November 2, India put up a clinical performance to beat Sri Lanka and take 1-0 lead in the five-match T20I series. If the bowlers kept the visitors to 121/6, Jemimah Rodrigues led the charge with the bat as her unbeaten 69 from 44 balls took India home.
Opting to bowl first after winning the toss, India had handed debut to 20-year-old Vaishnavi Sharma — a promising left-arm spinner from Madhya Pradesh. She shared the spin-bowling duties along with Deepti Sharma and NR Sree Charani while Kranti Goud and Arundhati Reddy being the two frontline seamers.
This combination is something India are experimenting as they began their preparations for the Women’s T20 World Cup to be held in England in June 2026. Together, they kept things tight as Sri Lanka tried to enforce the pace on the ball with little success. Vishmi Gunaratne was their top scorer (39 from 43 balls) as Sri Lanka scrapped their way to 121/6.
In the chase, both Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma got early boundaries, but could not sustain. The latter fell but Mandhana built a partnership with Rodrigues. The No 3 batter in the format continued her good form from the knockout stages of the ODI World Cup.
As she often does, Rodrigues heavily scored on the square (either sides) while also bringing out the lofted shots against spinners. Once Mandhana fell, she kept going along with captain Harmanpreet Kaur to take India home in 14.4 overs. The second T20I will be at the same venue on Tuesday.
Brief scores: SL 121/6 in 20 ovs (Vishmi 39; Deepti 1/20) lost to India 122/2 in 14.4 ovs (Jemimah 69 n.o, Smriti 25; Inoka 1/17).