The Indian Women’s cricket team will be travelling to the Sri Lankan islands to take on the Lankan Women for an away series in the month of September. Both the sides will feature in a limited overs tournament comprising of 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is. The series will act as a preparation ground for both the sides for the upcoming ICC Women’s World T20 to be held in the Windies.
The recently concluded Women’s Challenger trophy has provided the Indian squad with much needed practice as the conditions will be more or less similar in Sri Lanka. V Vanitha, Punam Raut and veteran Mithali Raj (1 fifty in 3 matches) have done well with the bat. Deepti Sharma (124 runs and 4 wickets in 5 matches) and Anuja Patil have shown great maturity and all-round skills in the tournament. Shikha Pandey (7 wickets), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, T Kanwar and Sushree Pradhan have been amongst the wickets. Also, the dashing opener Smriti Mandhana (421 runs at an average of 60.14) is coming from a successful KSL stint and has been the top scorer in the league. The Indian T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur (164 runs at strike rate of 151.85) who also featured in KSL had a good run and will look to continue her good form in the Lanka tour.
The worrying factor in the Indian camp will be the form of some experienced players like Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, youngster Jemimah Rodrigues, Mansi Joshi and the veteran fast bowler Jhulan Goswami who did not have a good run in the Challengers Trophy.
The Sri Lankan Women’s team also has a lot of familiar faces and veteran players like Dilani Manodara, Yasoda Mendis, Chamari Athapaththu, S Siriwardene, Inoka Ranaweera and others will try to make up for the recent losses against the Indian side.
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The 2 sides recently clashed in the Asia Cup where the Indians emerged victorious by 7 wickets. However, both the sides have had a poor run in limited overs cricket in the recent series and will try to make up for the losses in the given tournament. The Indians did not perform well and were at the receiving end against the touring sides of England and Australia. The Asia Cup also did not go according to the plans where they lost against Bangladesh in the finals.
The Sri Lankan Women’s team had a poor Asia Cup and prior to the series lost the limited overs series in the Windies.
The series will also be of great significance for both the coaches namely Ramesh Powar and Harsha De Silva as this will be their first assignment. The former Indian off-spinner Ramesh Powar is confident about the team and has strong faith in the skills of the players. The coach had a successful camp with the team where he connected with every player individually and is looking forward to a bright future. The Sri Lankan coach Harsha De Silva will look to help Sri Lanka out of the poor recent form where they have lost 12 of their last 13 ODIs.
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The limited over series will play a huge part in the qualification for the 50 over World Cup and will provide suitable preparation for the T20 World Cup. Both the teams will like to put a positive stride forward and try new faces and combinations which could work in their favour in the upcoming main event in the Carribean.
Players to watch out for –
India – Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma
Sri Lanka – Chamari Athapaththu, S Siriwardene, P Weerakkody
Indian T20 Squad –
India Squad for 5 T20Is vs SL: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Dayalan Hemlata, Deepti Sharma, Anuja Patil, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Shikha Pandey, Mansi Joshi
Indian ODI Squad
India Squad for 3 ODIs vs SL: Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur (vc), Smriti Mandhana, Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma, Dayalan Hemlata, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Shikha Pandey
Schedules
Sep 11, Tue Sri Lanka Women vs India Women, 1st ODI (ICC Championship match)
Galle International Stadium, Galle
10:00 AM
04:30 AM GMT / 10:00 AM LOCAL
Sep 13, Thu Sri Lanka Women vs India Women, 2nd ODI (ICC Championship match)
Galle International Stadium, Galle
10:00 AM
04:30 AM GMT / 10:00 AM LOCAL
Sep 16, Sun Sri Lanka Women vs India Women, 3rd ODI (ICC Championship match)
FTZ Sports Complex, Katunayake
10:00 AM
04:30 AM GMT / 10:00 AM LOCAL
Sep 19, Wed Sri Lanka Women vs India Women, 1st T20I
FTZ Sports Complex, Katunayake
2:00 PM
08:30 AM GMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL
Sep 21, Fri Sri Lanka Women vs India Women, 2nd T20I
Colts Cricket Club Ground, Colombo
2:00 PM
08:30 AM GMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL
Sep 22, Sat Sri Lanka Women vs India Women, 3rd T20I
Colombo Cricket Club Ground, Colombo
2:00 PM
08:30 AM GMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL
Sep 24, Mon Sri Lanka Women vs India Women, 4th T20I
Colombo Cricket Club Ground, Colombo
2:00 PM
08:30 AM GMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL
Sep 25, Tue Sri Lanka Women vs India Women, 5th T20I
FTZ Sports Complex, Katunayake
2:00 PM
08:30 AM GMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL
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