In addition to a stifling bowling performance, Jemimah Rodrigues’ return to the national squad was enthusiastically hailed as her T20I career-best 76, which included a 92-run partnership with captain Harmanpreet Kaur, helped India defeat Sri Lanka by 41 runs to begin their Women’s T20 Asia Cup campaign.

Prior to the partnership between Rodrigues and Harmanpreet, India was scoring at less than one run per ball. In the ten overs following the powerplay, India added 83 runs. The theme that caused India to just miss winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year returned when Harmanpreet was bowled, as they only managed to score 35 runs for the loss of four wickets.

However, India’s spinners maintained pressure, particularly in the face of an aggressive start, to support the 2018 runners-up in their victories.

Sugandika Kumari and Oshadi Ranasinghe, a left-arm-right-arm spin combo, were Sri Lanka’s first bowlers when they decided to field, much like they had done during their home series victory over India in June. Both Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana failed in their attempts to escape, holing out within four overs.

The penultimate of the powerplay and Achini Kulasuriya’s maiden over went for just one as Rodrigues and Harmanpreet took some time to get their eyes in. But in the final over of the fielding limitations, Rodrigues launched the onslaught by driving Kumari for two fours. After giving Kulasuriya the same treatment in her subsequent over, she took two more fours from offspinner Malsha Shehani.

Soon after, Rodrigues mentioned her eighth half-century in the format, and the two then changed their focus. Due to the high temperatures in Sylhet, Harmanpreet eventually needed physiotherapy and had to leave the field during the chase while Mandhana made decisions in the middle. She was then stumped by Ranasinghe a ball after being dropped and parried over for six.

Prior to having her time in the middle of the court stopped by a swipe across the line, Rodrigues managed a couple hits, including a switch hit off Inoka Ranaweera. Following then, India’s end lost steam as they added only 16 runs off of the final 14 balls.

Chasing 151, Harshitha Samawickrama got off to a fast start, hitting three fours off the first ball Renuka Singh bowled at Lord’s, where India won the most recent ODI. She then successfully belted Sneh Rana’s offspin back over her head by using her feet.
Samarawickrama found a supporter in Shehani, who came out firing with all guns blazing, despite the fact that Deepti Sharma had been able to get the better of Chamari Athapaththu and fire her. In just five overs, Sri Lanka had sped to 39 for 1.

Then, Shehani attempted to quickly steal a single by hitting the ball with soft hands towards the off side, but Deepti quickly swooped in from backward point and fired a direct hit at the bowler’s end to catch the batter short. A few more overs later, Samarawickrama was dismissed as a consequence of a terrible mix-up caused by her ball-watching.

Pooja Vastrakar’s two strikes helped Sri Lanka go from 48 for 3 to 61 for 5 from their initial position. In order to accelerate the end, Dayalan Hemalatha took three quick wickets after Radha had Anushka Sanjeewani out by lbw.