Women's Asia Cup T20 2022, IND-W vs SL-W: The Indian women's team is certainly on a roll and have fared pretty decently in their recent outings. They certainly missed out on the gold medal at the 2022 edition of the Commonwealth Games but still managed to get their hands on the silver medal. Once the blue brigade's bandwagon moved to England, they put up a splendid show in the white ball series. India did lose to Amy Jones's side in the T20I series but settled scores with them as they inflicted a series defeat of 3-0 on the hosts.
With a whirlwind of unnecessary criticism around Deepti Sharma's Mankad controversy, Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, along with her troops will take the field against Sri Lanka in the first game of their Asia Cup campaign. The Indian skipper lately has been pretty vocal about how she has been enjoying the additional responsibilities of being a captain and this has certainly reflected in her batting. To India's respite, both Mandhana and Kaur have been firing and they will have to continue to play well if India are to dominate the tournament.
Shafali Verma's form has been a spot of bother for the Indian team but as of now, the management has persisted with her and backed her based on the talent she has. It will be a huge bonus for the Indian team if Verma can come good. Jemimah Rodrigues returns to the side and with Renuka Singh consistently taking wickets at the top, India as of now certainly look like red-hot favorites in the tournament.
ALSO READ | From India to UAE, here is a list of every competing squad
On the other hand, there are Sri Lankan women led by one of their finest batters Chamari Athapaththu. Before the start of the Asia Cup, the Sri Lankan team suffered a major setback in the form of Vishmi Gunaratne. The gritty batter sustained a back stress fracture and her absence means that Chamari Athapaththu will have to be at the top of her game throughout the tournament if Sri Lanka are to stamp their authority on their respective opponents.
With Hasini Perera and Harshitha Samarawickrama in the squad, the middle-order will heavily rely on these two batters. As far as the bowling is concerned, the Sri Lankan team heavily relies on spinners like Inoka Ranaweera and Oshadi Ranasinghe who can turn the tides in their team's favor if the wickets provide ample amount of assistance.
Squads
India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Sabbhineni Meghana, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Dayalan Hemalatha, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Richa Ghosh(w), Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh, Kiran Navgire, Jemimah Rodrigues, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Sri Lanka: Hasini Perera, Chamari Athapaththu(c), Harshitha Madavi, Anushka Sanjeewani(w), Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Malsha Shehani, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Sugandika Kumari, Inoka Ranaweera, Achini Kulasuriya, Tharika Sewwandi, Madushika Methtananda, Rashmi Silva, Kaushani Nuthyangana
