Deepti Sharma shines in India’s clinical win against Sri Lanka in Women's World Cup opener

Team India romped to an emphatic win to kickstart their ICC Women’s ODI World Cup journey at the expense of an undercooked Sri Lanka unit. Despite brief interruptions from the rain gods, cricket eventually happened, which allowed the Women in Blue put forth their best foot, thanks to a very special performance from Deepti Sharma as India logged two points.

Put into bat, India found themselves in some early trouble as Udeshika Prabodhani removed Smriti Mandhana (8) cheaply. However, a solid second-wicket stand between Pratika Rawal (37) and Harleen Deol (48) allowed India to stabilize the ship.

Rawal fell to Inoka Ranaweera but an incoming Harmanpreet Kaur looked good for her 19-ball-21. Kaur and Deol added another 39 runs for the third wicket, propelling India to 120. However, the fall of Deol sparked a sudden collapse and the entire Indian middle-order was down to their last straw of resistance.

From 120/2, India slipped to 124/6, losing Deol (48), Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues (0) and Richa Ghosh (2) in no time, stoking fears of an unprecedented meltdown. However, with Deepti Sharma in the mix and Amanjot Kaur, India still had batting to come. They also had a fine striker of the cherry in Sneh Rana to follow suit.

Sharma (53) and Amanjot (57) brought India back on the fighting track. An excellent 103-run-stand for the seventh wicket allowed India to breathe again. Despite the fall of Amanjot, Sneh Rana came out blasting on all cylinders. A match that had three overs lost to rain saw India posting 269/8 from 47 overs. Rana stayed unbeaten for a 15-ball-28, a knock in which she smacked two fours and two sixes. Inoka Ranaweera was the pick of the Lankan bowling lot with figures of 4/46.

Sri Lanka did get a good start, riding high on the back of Chamari Athapaththu (43) and a cameo from Hasini Perera (14). It was Kranti Goud who drew first blood for India, removing the latter. An incoming Harshitha Samarawickrama (29) did well to keep the scoreboard ticking. The duo of Chamari and Samarawickrama added 52 runs for the second wicket before Deepti Sharma could finally provide the all-important breakthrough in the form of the Lankan skipper.

The fall of Chamari did leave Sri Lanka wobbling as the Indian bowlers could sniff a doorway for dominance. Harshitha was the next one to fall as Sree Charani knitted her web of mystery. Amanjot Kaur joined the party too, getting the better of Vishmi Gunaratne (11). Kavisha Dilhari (15) did try to get Sri Lanka out of the quagmire but her efforts were to no avail as Deepti Sharma doubled her tally.

Things only went downhill from there despite a desperate show of defiance from Nilakshi de Silva (35). India skittled out Sri Lanka for 211 with eight balls to go. Deepti Sharma led the charge with the ball, chronicling figures of 3/54 while another miserly outing for Sneh Rana saw her chime in with numbers of 2/32 from her 10 overs. India secured a victory by 59 runs while Deepti Sharma claimed the Player of the Match award for her phenomenal all-round performance.