India staged a brilliant comeback after a middle-order collapse to beat Sri Lanka by 59 runs in a rain-affected opening match of the Women’s World Cup in Guwahati.
The hosts lost four wickets for four runs in the space of 11 balls, including three in the 26th over for spinner Inoka Ranaweera, which saw them slip to 124-6.
But Amanjot Kaur and Deepti Sharma produced a match-winning partnership of 103 for the seventh wicket as Sri Lanka were unable to maintain their initial discipline in the field, with the former dropped four times on her way to 57.
Sneh Rana added some late impetus with 28 from 15 balls and Sharma fell for 53 from the last ball of the innings as India recovered to post a competitive 269-8 from 47 overs, with three overs lost from rain delays.
That saw Sri Lanka’s target revised to 271 from the same amount of overs, and they made a promising start by reaching 82-1 but skipper Chamari Athapaththu’s dismissal for 43 at the end of the 15th over stalled their progress.
Athapaththu’s second-wicket stand of 52 with Harshitha Samarawickrama kept the visitors in the game, but they lacked India’s batting depth and could not recover from a slump to 140-6 and they were eventually bowled out for 211 in the 46th over.
Sharma added figures of 3-54 to her half-century as India entertained a lively crowd of 22,843 – a record for a Women’s World Cup group game – while fellow spinners Sneh Rana and Shree Charani took 2-32 and 2-37 respectively.
The tournament continues with defending champions Australia taking on New Zealand in Indore on Wednesday, while England start their campaign against South Africa on Friday.