Colombo: Opener Pratika Rawal struck a fine half-century after spinners Sneh Rana and debutant Shree Charani starred with the ball as a clinical India outclassed Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the rain-hit opening ODI of the women’s tri-nation series here Sunday.
Opting to bowl, India bundled out Sri Lanka for 147 in a curtailed 39-over-a-side contest, with Rana (3/31) and Charani (2/26) sharing five wickets between them, while senior off-spinner Deepti Sharma (2/22) also chipped in.
India chased down the modest target in 29.4 overs, with Smriti Mandhana (43) providing a fluent start before Rawal (50 not out) and Harleen Deol (48 not out) took the visitors home without much fuss.
India will next face South Africa on April 29.
Playing only her seventh ODI, Rawal, who had slammed a record-breaking 154 against Ireland earlier this year, continued her rich vein of form. The 24-year-old, who holds the record for most runs by any batter in their first six ODI innings, anchored the chase with maturity.
Rawal stitched two crucial partnerships — 54 off 59 balls with Mandhana and an unbroken 95-run stand off 120 balls with Deol — to take India past the finish line.
The right-hander, who made optimum use of her exquisite cover drives, struck seven boundaries in her 62-ball knock, while Mandhana found the fence six times during her 52-ball stay.
Rawal brought up her fourth successive fifty with a single off the penultimate ball of the chase before Deol sealed the win with a boundary.
Mandhana and Rawal set the tone by putting on 50 runs inside nine overs before Inoka Ranaweera broke the stand, deceiving the left-hander in flight and completing a return catch.
India were 54 for one in the 10th over at that time.
Sri Lanka managed to tighten the screws momentarily with two maiden overs but with no scoreboard pressure, Rawal and Deol calmly saw India through.
Earlier, off-spinner Rana and left-arm spinner Charani returned impressive figures of 3/31 and 2/26 respectively in their full quota of eight overs each as the hosts innings never took off.
Medium pacer Kashvee Sudesh Gautam, who is also playing her first international match, too bowled well and while the 22-year-old could not register her name in the wicket’s column, she was economical and conceded only 28 runs in 8 overs.
With the match reduced to 39 overs per side due to a delay of three hours following heavy showers, the Indian bowlers used the conditions to their advantage and did not allow the Sri Lankan batters to settle down at the R Premadasa Stadium.
None of the Sri Lankan batters could get a big knock as Hasini Perera made 30 in 46 balls and Kavisha Dilhari contributed a 26-ball 25.
Skipper Chamari Athapaththu (7), opening the batting alongside Hasini, failed to fire at the start of the innings.
