Twitter Reactions: All-round India kickstart Asia Cup campaign on high

Six-time champions India locked horns with Sri Lanka in the second match of the Women’s Asia Cup 2022. The Indian bowlers ensured the team's success as the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side kick-started their campaign on a high note by winning the contest by 41 runs and claimed their first victory of the competition.

Winning the toss, Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu put India to bat first. The pitch had been supportive of the bowlers, especially the spinners, and the decision worked in Athapaththu’s favour. Indian openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana lost their wickets quickly very early in the powerplay as India suffered a major setback in the beginning.

Verma’s poor form with the bat continued, whereas Mandhana, who had been in good touch in the white-ball format, could not do much this time around. But then, runs kept flowing for India as Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur took charge of the game and anchored the innings. The Indian skipper had been in great form recently, but it was Rodrigues who scored the majority of runs.

The duo handled India’s batting for more than 10 overs and went on to share a 92-run stand for the third wicket before the skipper fell prey to Oshadi Ranasinghe’s spin after scoring a 30-ball 33. But Rodrigues kept going after claiming a half-century. She added the crucial runs on board and went on to score a 53-ball 76 before being dismissed by the Sri Lankan skipper.

It was a spinner’s paradise as the Sri Lankan spinners kept picking the majority of the wickets. After Rodrigues’ dismissal, the middle order could not contribute much in the death overs and India finished scoring 150/6 in their 20-overs quota. Ranasinghe picked up three wickets, whereas Sugandhika Kumari and Athapaththu picked up one each.

Indian bowlers dominated the second innings

Sri Lankan openers started off their chase on a high note and kept sending the ball towards the boundary before Deepti Sharma got India the breakthrough in the fourth over. Malsha Shehani was the next to walk out in the powerplay as this time, Sharma’s direct hit at the non-striker’s end led to the Sri Lankan batter’s run-out.

The Sri Lankan batters had their focus on hitting boundaries to cover up the chase, and while they did succeed in doing so, Indian bowlers kept breaking the momentum by taking wickets at regular intervals. Opening batter Harshitha Samarawickrama and middle order batter Hasini Perera scored the crucial runs, but their innings were put to an end by the bowlers and the fielders.

The Indian bowlers restricted Sri Lanka from chasing the target and dished them out for 109 runs, thereby winning the game by 41 runs. Dayalan Hemalatha, who entered the bowling attack very late, ended up picking three wickets, registering her career-best figures of 3/15. While Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar picked up two wickets each, Radha Yadav added one under her name as India opened their Asia Cup campaign with a victory.