India impress to beat Sri Lanka in World Cup opener

ICC Women's World Cup, Guwahati

India 269-8 (47 overs): Amanjot 57 (56); Ranaweera 4-46

Sri Lanka 211 (45.4 overs): Athapaththu 43 (47); Sharma 3-54

India won by 59 runs (DLS)

Scorecard

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.

In front of their home fans, all of the pre-match pressure was on India but they lay down a marker as one of the tournament favourites despite being short of their best.

The crowd were silenced by the early departure of superstar Smriti Mandhana, caught on the boundary for eight, and Sri Lanka's disciplined bowlers kept Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol in check as they reached 43-1 at the end of the 10-over powerplay, which was followed by the first rain delay.

Rawal fell for 37 from 59 balls, but it was Deol's departure to Ranaweera – chipping the ball softly to cover for 48 – which sparked the chaos. Jemimah Rodrigues was bowled first ball by a slow delivery that gripped and clipped off stump before captain Harmanpreet Kaur was caught behind three balls later after trying to guide the ball past the keeper.

Sri Lanka had a golden opportunity when Richa Ghosh slashed a wide delivery from Athapaththu to point from the following over, but they could not press home their advantage as Amanjot was firstly put down on 19 by Achini Kulasuriya on the square-leg boundary.

She offered three more chances of varying difficulty on 37, 50 and 53 and by the time a catch was finally taken in the 44th over, the game had slipped far from Sri Lanka's grasp.

A fine all-round bowling performance followed, led by Sharma as she got the key breakthrough by bowling Athapaththu, and they were rarely under pressure once she fell.

Still, a comprehensive win with a significant net run-rate boost gives India the perfect start and morale boost as they seek their first World Cup win in either format.

Former England spinner Alex Hartley: "India have started really nicely. There are some cracks there; they did panic when Smriti Mandhana got out early but it was still a comprehensive win.

"Sri Lanka have certainly got more to improve on, however."

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur: "It wasn't an easy game. We know every game is important and will be high pressure.

"In the middle overs our batters managed well despite losing wickets. That was outstanding to watch and overall it was good game for us. All of our girls came together to win this."

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu: "We executed our plans but we dropped a couple of wickets - Amanjot Kaur was disappointing to drop. We made a few mistakes and that has cost us the game."