Sri Lanka batters failed to make good the largesse of the Indian fielders and crashed to a seven-wicket loss as Jemimah Rodrigues struck an unbeaten half-century in the first T20I at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Sunday,
Put into bat, Sri Lanka made a bright start with skipper Chamari Athapaththu scoring a 12-ball 15 with three boundaries. But once she was bowled by Kranti Gaud, the Lankans went into a shell. There was no intent to step up the pace of the innings. It was a virtual crawl as the batters were keen on staying at the wicket. A lack of power hitters in the team too contributed to a lowly 121 for six in 20 overs.
The Indians were in no mood to look the gift horse in the mouth. Though hard-hitting Shafali Varma fell for nine, opener and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues took on the Lankan bowlers, with the latter doing the bulk of scoring. The duo added 54 for the second wicket before Smriti fell to Ranaweera for 25.
A transformed Jemimah
Jemimah, whose heroic unbeaten century in the semifinal against Australia in the recent ICC Women’s ODI World Cup, looked more aggressive than before. The World Cup title win seems to have transformed her into a different player. The right-handed Mumbaikar, who is not known for power-hitting, finished the match with a quickfire 69. The runs came off just 44 balls with 10 hits to the fence. Jemimah scored at a strike rate of 156. She was quick with her footwork, played the late cuts superbly and ran brilliantly.
Harmanpreet Kaur gave her company with 15. The duo added 55 for the unbroken third wicket partnership. Fittingly Jemimah scored the winning run.
Earlier, after Athapaththu’s departure, Vishmi Gunaratna and Hasini Perera were involved in a 21-run partnership for the second wicket. Though Hasini got a start she failed to build on it. She was caught by Gaud off Deepti Sharma for a 23-ball 20.
Vishmi was joined by Harshitha Samarawickrama and Sri Lanka had the best partnership of the innings of 38 runs. But the pace was very slow and by the time Harshitha was bowled by Shree Charini, Lanka had consumed 15.3 overs with just 87 on the board. Harshitha scored 21 off 23 balls with two fours.
Vishmi, who was anchoring the innings, never stepped out of the role. She finally fell with the score reading 103. Vishmi made a 43-ball 39 with a boundary and a six. The Lankan charge never came, and the visitors had to be content with a modest 121 on the board.
India had handed a debut to 19-year-old left-arm spinner Vaishnavi Sharma, with captain Kaur handing her the cap. The Sri Lankans included Shashini Gimhani, the ambidextrous wrist spinner and only 17 years of age, for the opening game. But it turned out to be a baptism with fire as she was spanked for 32 runs in her two overs.
SCOREBOARD
Sri Lanka: Vishmi Gunaratne (run out) 39, Chamari Athapaththu b Gaud 15, Hasini Perera c Gaud b Sharma 20, Harshitha Samarawickrama b Charani 20, Nilakshika Silva (run out) 8, Kavisha Dilhari (run out) 6, Kaushini Nuthyangana (not out) 9; Extras: (B1, W2) 3. Total: (For 6 wickets in 20 overs) 121.
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-49, 3-87, 4-103, 5-108, 6-121.
Bowling: Kranti Gaud 3-0-23-1, Arundhati Reddy 4-0-23-0, Deepti Sharma 4-1-20-1, Vaishnavi Sharma 4-0-16-0, Shree Charani 4-0-30-1, Amanjot Kaur 1-0-8-0.
India: Smriti Mandhana c Silva b Ranaweera 25, Shafali Varma c Gimhani b Kavindi 9, Jemimah Rodrigues (not out) 69, Harmanpreet Kaur (not out) 15. Extras: (NB2, W2) 4. Total: (For 2 wickets in 14.4 overs) 122.
Fall of wickets:1-13, 2-67.
Bowling: Malki Madara 2-0-19-0, Kawya Kavindi 3-0-20-1, Chamari Athapaththu 2-0-16-0, Shashini Gimhani 2-0-32-0, Inoka Ranaweera 3.4-0-17-1, Kavisha Dilhari 2-0-18-0.
