Who won India Women vs Sri Lanka Women 1st T20I today? — Match result & turning points
India defeated Sri Lanka by a comfortable margin of eight wickets in the first T20I at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, December 21. With this win, India took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bowl first on Sunday. Sri Lanka lost their talismanic captain Chamari Athapaththu in the third over, and the rest of the batters couldn't up the ante against some tight bowling from the Indians.
Vishmi Gunaratne top-scored for the Lankans
with a 43-ball 39. She added important partnerships with Hasini Perera and Harshita Samarawickrama, but none of them threatened India. The tourists kept losing wickets in the death overs and eventually finished on 121/6.
In reply, India didn't get off to an ideal start as Shafali Verma was dismissed after hitting a couple of boundaries. Smriti Mandhana played a scratchy knock of 25 runs off as many balls before being dismissed in the ninth over.
Jemimah Rodrigues, who was batting fluently, was joined by Harmanpreet Kaur. They added an unbeaten 55-run stand off 39 balls to take India home in 14.4 overs. The 25-year-old remained not out of 69, while Harmanpreet also chipped in with an unbeaten 15.
Top batting performance of the match — Jemimah Rodrigues
Jemimah Rodrigues continued from where she had left off in the ODI World Cup. She smashed an unbeaten 69, facing just 44 balls and hitting 10 boundaries. The control with which she batted showed that she was high on confidence.
Top Bowling performance of the match - Deepti Sharma
While Deepti Sharma picked up only one wicket, her relentless accuracy prevented the Sri Lankan batters from going for their big strokes. The star all-rounder finished with figures of 1/20, which is remarkable in a four-over spell in T20 cricket.
Who won the Player of the Match?
Jemimah Rodrigues won the Player of the Match award, and it didn't come as a shock to many. The Bhandup-born played deliveries on their merit and found the gaps in the field to perfection. Jemimah amassed a 44-ball 69* with the help of 10 fours.
Records Broken and Major Milestones Achieved
- For the first time, the Indian women's team registered 50-plus stands for the second and third wickets in a T20I innings.
- Jemimah Rodrigues now has the joint-most 50-plus scores in India versus Sri Lanka women's T20Is. She has four 50-plus scores, equalling Mithali Raj's record.
- Smriti Mandhana registered 4000 runs in women's T20Is. She is only behind Suzie Bates on the list of leading run-getters in the format.
What is the next match?
The second T20I in the five-match series is set to be played at the same venue on Tuesday, December 23. This will be a very important clash for both teams.
