Women’s World Cup opening match in Guwahati India in dramatic collapse as Sri Lanka hit back

India were left struggling at 140 for 6 after being put into bat by Sri Lanka in the opening match of the women’s Cricket World Cup in Guwahati, India yesterday.

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu won the toss and had no hesitation in asking India captain Harmanpreet Kaur to bat first.

But rain set in with India on 81 for 1 after the home team lost an early wicket, that of opener Smriti Mandana who was caught by Vishmi Gunaratne off the bowling of Udeshika Pramodhani for 8 with the total at 14 in the fourth over of the match.

When play resumed after a long delay India were cautious in the run-making approach and lost their second wicket that of opener Pratika Rawal who was caught by Gunaratne off the bowling of Inoka Ranaweera for 37 with the total at 81.

Pratika made her 37 off 59 balls with three fours and one six and looked to be dominating the Sri Lanka bowlers at the time she was dismissed.

But her dismissal did not help the Sri Lankan quest for more wickets as Hamanpreet Kaur joined Harleem Deoi and the two settled in against some ineffective Sri Lanka bowling that lost the early initiative.

The duo took India passed the 100-run mark in the 23rd over.

The pair continued to bat untroubled against the Sri Lanka bowlers as Kaur dug in to ensure Deoi had a sound partner in her to prevent any more setbacks in the India batting.

But then came the unexpected when India lost three wickets in one dramatic over bowled by Inoka Ranweera after the partnership broke and slumped to 124 for 6 with Athapaththu also chipping in to claim a wicket and join the party.

India slumped from what was a well secure 120 for 2 losing four wickets for four runs as the partnership between Kaur and Deoi realised 39 runs that helped the home team regroup. The wickets to fall were that of Kaur for 21, Deoi for 48, Jemima Rodriguesz for a first ball duck and Richa Ghosh for 2 as a stunned crowd could not believe that eyes while India crumbled dramatically.

At the time of going to Press India were left struggling at 140 for 6 in 29 overs with Ranaweera claiming four wickets for 23 runs off just five overs.

Apart from India and Sri Lanka, the other teams in the fray are England, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa and New Zealand. All teams must play one another in the first round before the top four teams play in the semi-finals.