After clinching the T20I series against the mighty Sri Lankans, the women in blue have now started their ODI campaign with a thumping victory over Sri Lanka. Experienced veteran Deepti Sharma rose to the occasion and put together a complete performance both with the bat and the ball. Sharma's exploits ensured that India completes the tricky chase with four wickets still in hand.
Sri Lanka had set a decent target of 172 runs but somehow India looked under immense pressure when they were reduced to 61-3 with the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Yastika Bhatia, and Shefali Verma all being dismissed with over 100 runs to go. Harmanpreet Kaur, who was leading the side first time as an ODI captain missed her half-century by 6 runs.
Pooja Vastrakar's knock of 21* and Deepti Sharma's knock of 22* ensured that the score was chased down in 38 overs. Previously India bowled Sri Lanka out for 171 in 48.2 overs and later chased the target down with 72 balls to spare.
The three-match ODI series that is currently being played is a vital part of the ICC ODI Championship. After the retirement of Indian legend Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur has taken over the reins of the Indian Women's team as the full-time captain.
With the bowl in hand, Indian bowlers Deepti Sharma and medium pacer Renuka Singh applied breakers to the Sri Lankan scoring and ended with respective figures of 3/25 and 3/29. Renuka was the wrecker-in-chief as she dismissed inform Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu with a peach of a delivery.
On the other hand, Deepti Sharma helped Renuka with her exploits and she dismissed Hansima Karunaratne for an eleven-ball duck. Sri Lanka women could never recover from these blows and they bundled out for 171 runs.
(Inputs from PTI)
