Visakhapatnam: The Indian women’s cricket team will look to raise its fielding standards by a few notches and build on a comprehensive opening win when it squares off against Sri Lanka in the second WT20I here on Tuesday.
Playing its first international game after a historic World Cup triumph last month, Harmanpreet Kaur’s side didn’t need to break much sweat in the batting and bowling departments during an eight-wicket win over the island nation.
However, the team’s fielding, especially catching, left a lot to be desired despite the bowlers managing to restrict the Lankans to a paltry 121 for 6.
“We are working on our fielding. Don’t know why we keep dropping catches. It is wet out here, but it is not an excuse. That is something we really need to think about. in the next match, we will come about with better approach,” skipper Harmanpreet Kaur had said after the match.
The Indian team had a well-deserved six-week break following the World Cup high. The players converged for a week-long camp at the Centre Of Excellence in Bengaluru after that.
Some rustiness in fielding was pretty much expected and the seasoned skipper feels that the team would be getting into the groove very soon.
“We are playing after a month. We don’t want to unnecessarily challenge ourselves. We just want to do well for the team.
“We just wanted to bowl first and see how it goes. We wanted to show the better approach,” Harmanpreet had said.
On paper, India are overwhelming favourites to win the series against Chamari Athapaththu-led visitors.
In the form of her life, Jemimah Rodrigues commenced her post World Cup journey from where she left during the title victory.
She looked in rhythm and was especially severe on Shashini Gimhani, a left-arm wrist spinner, whch is a rare breed in women’s cricket.
Gimhani bowled a lot of over-pitched deliveries and failed to get her length right and Rodrigues alone creamed her for half a dozen boundaries.
The biggest gain for India was 20-year-old left-arm spinner Vaishnavi Sharma, who was recently ignored at the WPL auctions.
Although Vaishnavi went wicket-less, she gave away only 16 runs and didn’t concede a single boundary.
For Shafali Verma, the series is an important one and she would like to be more consistent while batting in the format that suits her game.
In the opening game, Sri Lanka’s inept performance didn’t test India’s batting much.
But the likes of Rodrigues, Harmanpreet, Deepti Sharma would like to be challenged during the course of this series before embarking on a tough tour of Australia after the conclusion of the Women’s Premier League.
Squads:
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India: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Harleen Deol, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh Thakur, Richa Ghosh (WK), G Kamalini (WK), Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma.
Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu (c) , Hasini Perera, Vishmi Gunaratne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Nilakshika De Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Imesha Dulani, Kaushini Nuthyangana, Malsha Shehani, Inoka Ranaweera, Shashini Gimhani, Nimesha Madushani, Kawya Kavindi, Rashmika Sewwandi, Malki Madara.
Match starts at 7 pm.
