GUWAHATI: Deepti Sharma starred with an all-round show as India recovered from a middle order collapse to first set Sri Lanka a 271-run target and then skittle the Islanders to 211 with eight balls to spare for a 59-run win in their 2025 ICC Women’s ODI World Cup opener here at Barsapara Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.Sri Lanka had a steady start to their chase as they raced to 80 runs in the 15th over losing opener Hasini Perera to young pacer Kranti Gaud. However, it was Sharma who castled a dangerous-looking Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu (43 off 47 balls) in the last ball of the 15th over to put the brakes on. She later accounted for Kavisha Dilhari (15) and Anushka Sanjeewani (6) to complete her match figures with 3/54 from 10 overs.Sharma got able support from her tweak colleagues Sneh Rana (2/32) and Shree Charani (2/37) in the middle overs as together they tightened the noose around the Islanders’ chase with seven wickets among them. Medium pacer Amanjot Kaur and Pratika Rawal took a wicket apiece.No. 6 Nilakshika da Silva tried to break the shackles with a 29-ball 35 — studded four boundaries and a maximum — but Rana dismantled her stumps to virtually end Sri Lanka’s hopes of pulling off a memorable win.Earlier, the weather and the course of first innings were both stop-start affairs. However, neither proved a complete spoilsport.Indian innings swayed from a steady start to a middle-over collapse and finally ended with a flourish. Amanjot (57 off 56 balls) and Sharma (53 off 53 balls) shared a 103-run stand for the seventh wicket with some late fireworks from Rana (28 off 15) helping India post 269/8 from 47 overs after Sri Lanka opted to bowl first.Rana played a vital cameo with two fours and as many sixes to take India past the 250-run mark, which looked far off at one point. India’s final score was adjusted to 270 as per the DLS method.It drizzled thrice during the first innings. Twice the rain stopped the proceedings. First, a one-and-a-half-hour stoppage after India reached 43/1 in 10 overs and then a brief eight-minute interruption at the end of 40th over. A passing shower in the 43rd over finally didn’t impede the play but the match was reduced to a 47-over-per-side affair.In-form Smriti Mandhana departed trying to clear the off-side early on in the powerplay but ended up slicing it to deep cover.Harleen Deol joined opener Pratika Rawal to steady the ship with a 67-run stand for the second wicket. Rawal departed to Inoka Ranaweera holing out at deep mid-wicket but it was Deol’s soft dismissal to the left-arm Lankan spinner which sparked a middle order collapse as the Indians went down from 120/2 to 124/6 in two overs.Ranaweera returned Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues and India captain Harmanpreet Kaur in the 26th over and was on a hat-trick as Rodrigues departed with a golden duck. Next over, captain Athapaththu scalped Richa Ghosh as the wicketkeeper-batter returned an easy catch to cover point.As the Indian innings looked to implode against the Islanders, Sharma and Kaur held fort with aplomb. They scored at more than run a ball as the Sri Lankans let go an opportunity of finishing the Indian innings to a below-par score with sloppy bowling and fielding. Without taking away anything from Amanjot, she was given three lives by the Lankans.Record attendance: The official attendance of 22,843 on Sunday was a record at any league match of an ICC Women’s World Cup game, breaking the attendance of 15935 set at the 2024 T20 World Cup game between India and Pakistan in Dubai.
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