Indian Women's Team Eyes On Winning ODI Series Against Sri Lanka
Despite a comfortable win in the first ODI, the Indian think tank must have had some concerns about the opening pair of vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and young Shefali Verma.
The Indian women's cricket team would look to clinch the three-match ODI series with a win against Sri Lanka in Monday's second match and also look to do well from their top-order, especially the openers.
Despite a comfortable win in the first ODI, the Indian think tank must have had some concerns about the opening pair of vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and young Shefali Verma. This is because these two batsmen have not been able to form a strong partnership on the tour so far, which has not given the team a quick start. Mandhana and Verma would now like to score big as there are only two matches left on the tour. Chasing a low score in the first ODI, the top-order collapsed. The middle order comprising Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Harleen Deol, Deepti, and Pooja Vastrakar led India to victory in the opening match. Harmanpreet is enjoying her role. Apart from scoring runs, she is also taking wickets with her improvised off-spin.
The Indian bowlers, especially the spinners, are making good use of the slow pitches of Sri Lanka and have played a key role in the team's victory on the tour. Right-arm medium pacer Renuka Singh took three wickets for 29 runs and Deepti Sharma's (3/25) off-break broke Sri Lanka's backbone, reducing the visitors to just 171 runs in the first ODI. The Sri Lankan team will hope that skipper Chamari Atapattu inspires the batsmen to do well with his bat. Openers Hasini Perera, Harshita Samarawickrama, and Nilakshi de Silva batted well but they need partnerships. Left-arm spinner Inoka Ranvira dazzled in the bowling but will need help from her teammates.
Teams :
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shefali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), S Meghna, Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Simran Bahadur, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastkar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Tania Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol.
Sri Lanka: Chamari Atapattu (captain), Nilakshi D'Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Vismi Gunaratne, Ama Kanchana, Hansima Karunaratne, Achini Kulsooria, Sugandha Kumari, Harshita Samarawickrama, Hasini Perera, Udeshika Prabodhani, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Inoka Satya, Sanjeevani, Sanjeevani, Malsha Shehani and Tharika Sewandi.
