Women’s ODI World Cup preview | India start campaign against Sri Lanka in Indore

Yesterday at 4:12 PM

India Women will start their ODI World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka Women at the Assam Cricket Association Stadium in Guwahati. The Women in Blue enter the tournament after a three-match series against Australia, followed by two warm-up matches against England and New Zealand, respectively.

‌The Indian Women will kickstart their ODI World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka Women at the Assam Cricket Association Stadium in Guwahati on Tuesday. The Women in Blue will hope for a positive start as the marquee returns to India after a gap of 12 years, when Australia triumphed in the 2013 edition.

India enters the multi-nation event on the back of an overseas series win against England in July and a hard-fought 2-1 loss to Australia at home last week. In the two warm-up matches that the side featured in ahead of their campaign opener, they lost to England by a huge margin of 153 runs before beating New Zealand by four wickets in Bengaluru.

The Indian openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal have been in prolific form in the 50-over format, topping the overall run charts this year. Mandhana is just 72 runs short of reaching the 1000-run mark, averaging 66.28 and striking at 115.85, with four hundreds and three fifties in 14 games this season. Meanwhile, Pratika is second with 668 runs from 14 innings at an average of 51.38.

With the ball, the off-spin duo of Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma are expected to share the wicket-taking duties during the ICC event, being India’s top wicket-takers in ODIs this year. Sneh has an impressive tally of 21 wickets in 11 matches at an average of 22.09 and a strike rate of 26.66, while Deepti has 17 scalps in 14 games.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will take motivation from their showing in the final of the T20 Asia Cup last year and the group game of the ODI tri-series earlier this year, when they went against the odds to beat the home side. The middle order duo of Harshitha Samarawickrama and Nilakshika Silva will have a huge role to play if the visitors are to produce yet another miracle.

Harshitha is Sri Lanka’s top run-getter this year with a tally of 336 runs in eight games, averaging 48.00 and with four fifties to her name, while Nilakshika has 221 runs at 31.57. Captain Chamari Athapaththu’s experience and big-match credentials will also have a huge role to play in the island nation’s World Cup campaign this time.

Form Guide

IND W Form: LWLWL

SL W Form: LWWLL

IND W vs SL W head-to-head in ODIs

India have clearly dominated this fixture with 31 wins from 35 matches, while Sri Lanka have just three wins, with one match ending without a result. The one-sided nature of the duel is clear from the last five games as well, with the Women in Blue winning four of them.

IND W 31 - 3 SL W

Pitch and Conditions

The surface at the ACA Stadium is expected to be flat, with spinners getting some purchase in the initial phase of the game. It will be difficult for the spinners to grip the ball with dew making its way in the second half of the game. It will be the first time that a Women’s ODI game is being hosted here, with both the men’s 50-over games seeing totals in excess of 300 in all four innings.

A cloudy afternoon will welcome both sides to Guwahati with temperatures expected to be around the 28-degree mark. There are chances of rain in the second half of the game, with temperatures dropping to 25 degrees and chances of rain placed at 70%.

Team News

India are expected to field three spinners with Radha Yadav joining the off-spin duo of Deepti and Sneh, while Renuka Singh and Arundhati Reddy are expected to spearhead the pace bowling attack. For Sri Lanka, left-arm seamer Udeshika Prabodhini may get a look in with Dewmi Vihanga and Inoka Ranaweera heading the spin attack.

IND W Expected XI

Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh.

SL W Expected XI

Hasini Perera, Chamari Athapaththu (c), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshika Silva, Dewmi Vihanga, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Udeshika Prabodhani, Malki Madara, Inoka Ranaweera

Broadcasting Platforms

The IND W vs SL W ODI World Cup match will be digitally streamed on the JioHotstar app and website in India from 3:00 PM IST on Tuesday, with live telecast on the Star Sports network.