Twitter Reactions: Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav shine as India clinch series opener

India Women have started off their tour of Sri Lanka with a magnificent victory against the hosts at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Dambulla. The tour started off with the three-match T20I series as India emerged victorious in the first game by defending a paltry total and winning the game by 34 runs.

To start with, India won the toss and elected to bat first. Regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur had the charge of the Indian side, and Chamari Athapaththu was in charge of the host team. India started off well, with Shafali Verma fighting from the front, but they received a major blow when opening batter Smriti Mandhana walked off after scoring just one.

It was a double treat for the hosts as they dismissed the incoming batter Sabbhineni Meghana for a golden duck and India ended the powerplay at 32/2. Verma looked in great form when she was joined by skipper Kaur on the crease, but her time with the bat ended when the Sri Lankan skipper picked her first wicket and dismissed Verma for run-a-ball 31.

Kaur (22 off 20) walked off soon and India faced yet another collapse. It was Jemimah Rodrigues who saved the day for the Women in Blue as she stood strong for more than 10 overs of the innings and knocked an unbeaten 27-ball 36. She tried rebuilding the innings but could not find a stable batter on the opposite end.

The final five overs were the most productive ones for her as she kept finding the gaps at regular intervals and slammed a handful of boundaries. 20 runs came off the final over as Deepti Sharma (17* off 8) joined Rodrigues in the power-hitting and India ended their 20-over quota, scoring 138 runs. For the hosts, Inoka Ranaweera bagged three wickets but gave away 30 runs in her four-over spell.

Sri Lanka batters struggled to hit the Indian bowlers

Sri Lanka’s chase started on a low note as they lost opener Vishmi Gunaratne (1 off 5) in just the second over. Top-order batters Chamari Athapaththu (16 off 19) and Harshitha Madavi (10 off 17) steered the ship thereon and ended the powerplay at 25/1. Radha Yadav struck twice in an over to take down the duo as the hosts started afresh. The partnership between Nilakshi de Silva and Kavisha Dilhari was broken by Pooja Vastrakar as the former walked off the field.

Dilhari (47* off 49) kept going till the end but there was no scope for the batters to chase. Indian bowlers kept the asking rate high towards the end and restricted the hosts to 104 runs. With this win, India have taken a 1-0 lead in the series after winning the game by 34 runs. The two sides will face each other again on June 25, Saturday, for the second T20I.

Meanwhile, let’s look at how Twitter reacted to India’s triumph: