Cricket: Amanjot Kaur, Deepti Sharma shine as India secure victory over Sri Lanka in Women’s World Cup opener
India’s batting depth proves decisive in tournament opener
The Indian women’s national cricket team kicked off their 2025 Women’s World Cup campaign on a positive note by securing a 59-run victory over Sri Lanka in the opening match of the competition on Tuesday at the Barsapara Stadium in Assam.
Sri Lanka won the toss and Chamari Athapaththu opted to bowl, which was understandable given the heavy overhead conditions and the strong possibility of rain interrupting play later in the day.
India lost Smriti Mandhana in the fourth over for just eight runs, but Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol steadied the ship, navigating the team to 81/2 before Rawal was caught by Vishmi Gunaratne off the bowling of Inoka Ranaweera in the 20th over.
At the halfway point in the innings, Ranaweera looked to have turned the match in her team’s favour, picking up three wickets in five balls, to leave the Women in Blue staring down the barrel at 121/5, and with their lower order to come.
However, Deepti Sharma made her first major impact on the match with bat in hand, scoring a run-a-ball 53, while Amanjot Kaur added 57 off 56 deliveries and Sneh Rana contributed a quickfire 28 off 15 to set a target of 269/8.
Ranaweera was bitterly unlucky not to have picked up her maiden five-for, as she grassed a caught and bowled attempt off Amanjot, while the Sri Lankan fielding also left much to be desired.
Sharma moves to second in India’s all-time wicket-taker list
After her splendid innings with the bat, Sharma proved to be India’s chief contributor with the ball, picking up the wickets of Athapaththu, Kavisha Dilhari and Anushka Sanjeewani to finish with figures of 3/54 in her 10 overs. Speaking to the media after the match, she said:
“We lost back to back wickets and we needed to steady the innings. (I'm) Happy to have done that. I'm used to batting under pressure and enjoyed the challenge today.”
Despite a spirited effort by Sri Lanka, the Women in Blue managed to hold them to 211 in 45.4 overs, 59 runs short of the target (DLS method), which also confirmed our cricket predictions for the opening match of the tournament.
Sharma, who was awarded Player of the Match for her excellent all-round effort, also surpassed Neetu David and now stands as India’s second-highest wicket taker in ODIs with 143 scalps, only behind the legendary Jhulan Goswami.
