In their first outing since a mediocre world-cup campaign in March, and in the absence of the legendary Mil-Jhul duo, the Indian women set foot in Sri Lanka determined to put on a dominant show. The tour started in Dambulla with a three-match T20I series, which would act as the final preparations for both sides before they head into the much-anticipated Commonwealth Games.
India sealed the series by taking an unassailable lead by clinching the first two games by 34 runs and 5 wickets respectively. Sri Lanka put up a clinical show in the final T20 game and won it by 7 wickets to round off the series 2-1 in favor of the women in blue.
Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu ended up as the highest run-scorer from the series with 139 with an average of 69.5 runs thanks to the brilliant 80* she scored while chasing in the final T20I. Her Indian counterpart Harmanpreet Kaur finished second on that list with 92 runs with scores of 22, 32* and 39* displaying great consistency throughout. Here are the top 5 run-getters from the series:
| Player | Innings | Runs | Highest Score | Average | Strike Rate |
| Chamari Athapaththu (SL) | 3 | 139 | 80* | 69.50 | 128.70 |
| Harmanpreet Kaur (IND) | 3 | 92 | 39* | 92.00 | 108.23 |
| Jemimah Rodrigues (IND) | 3 | 72 | 36* | 36.00 | 114.28 |
| Smriti Mandhana (IND) | 3 | 62 | 39 | 20.66 | 101.63 |
| Kavisha Dilhari (SL) | 3 | 56 | 47* | 56.00 | 91.80 |
The bowling department was dominated by spinners as left-arm finger spinners from both sides ended up as the highest wicket-takers for their respective countries. Sri Lanka’s Inoka Ranaweera took 6 scalps from the three matches whereas Radha Yadav took 4 for the Indians in the series. Here are the top-5 wicket-takers from the series:
| Player | Innings | Wickets | Average | Economy | Best Figures |
| Inoka Ranaweera (SL) | 3 | 6 | 13.16 | 6.58 | 3/30 |
| Oshadi Ranasinghe (SL) | 3 | 5 | 13.40 | 6.70 | 2/22 |
| Radha Yadav (IND) | 3 | 4 | 19.50 | 7.09 | 2/22 |
| Deepti Sharma (IND) | 3 | 3 | 23.00 | 6.90 | 2/34 |
| Pooja Vastrakar (IND) | 3 | 2 | 20.00 | 4.44 | 1/13 |
As far as Strike Rate is concerned, the top 5 strikers in the series were (min 20 balls faced):
| Player | Strike Rate | Runs Scored |
| Chamari Athapaththu (SL) | 128.70 | 139 |
| Shafali Verma (IND) | 117.77 | 53 |
| Jemimah Rodrigues (IND) | 114.28 | 72 |
| Harmanpreet Kaur (IND) | 108.23 | 92 |
| S Meghana (IND) | 105.40 | 39 |
There were some miserly bowling spells on display by bowlers from both the teams, the players with the best economy rates were (min 5 overs bowled) :
| Player | Economy | Wickets |
| Pooja Vastrakar (IND) | 4.44 | 2 |
| Sugandika Kumari (SL) | 6.00 | 2 |
| Harmanpreet Kaur (IND) | 6.00 | 1 |
| Ama Kanchana (SL) | 6.00 | 1 |
| Renuka Singh Thakur (IND) | 6.50 | 2 |
With some solid performances at display at Dambulla, both the teams headed towards the beautiful suburb of Pallekele in Kandy where they locked horns in the three-match ODI series. Not only the silverware but also very significant ICC Women’s Championship points were also up for grabs which the Indian team managed to take all 6 of them quite comfortably as they cleaned up Sri Lanka 3-0 winning by 4 wickets, 10 wickets and 39 runs respectively.
In her first series as full-time ODI Captain, Harmanpreet Kaur bagged the POTM in the final one-dayer as well as POTS trophy as she ended the series with 119 runs along with 2 wickets.
Here’s some statistical round-up of the series:
MOST RUNS
| Player | Innings | Runs | Highest Score | Average | Strike Rate |
| Shafali Verma (IND) | 3 | 155 | 71* | 77.50 | 96.27 |
| Nilakshi de Silva | 3 | 123 | 48* | 61.50 | 66.84 |
| Harmanpreet Kaur (IND) | 2 | 119 | 75 | 59.50 | 78.80 |
| Smriti Mandhana (IND) | 3 | 104 | 94* | 52.00 | 94.54 |
| Pooja Vastrakar | 2 | 77 | 56* | – | 91.66 |
MOST WICKETS
| Player | Innings | Wickets | Average | Economy | Best Figures |
| Renuka Singh Thakur (IND) | 3 | 7 | 12.85 | 3.75 | 4/28 |
| Deepti Sharma (IND) | 3 | 6 | 17.00 | 3.80 | 3/25 |
| Inoka Ranaweera (SL) | 3 | 6 | 17.16 | 3.96 | 4/39 |
| Pooja Vastrakar (IND) | 3 | 4 | 18.50 | 4.62 | 2/26 |
| Rajeshwari Gayakwad (IND) | 3 | 4 | 23.25 | 3.20 | 3/36 |
BEST STRIKE RATE (min 20 balls faced)
| Player | Strike Rate | Runs Scored |
| Shafali Verma (IND) | 96.27 | 155 |
| Smriti Mandhana (IND) | 94.54 | 104 |
| Pooja Vastrakar (IND) | 91.66 | 77 |
| Harleen Deol (IND) | 81.39 | 35 |
| Harmanpreet Kaur (IND) | 78.80 | 119 |
BEST ECONOMY (min 10 overs bowled)
| Player | Economy | Wickets |
| Harmanpreet Kaur (IND) | 3.06 | 2 |
| Rajeshwari Gayakwad (IND) | 3.20 | 4 |
| Renuka Singh Thakur (IND) | 3.75 | 7 |
| Deepti Sharma (IND) | 3.80 | 6 |
| Meghana Singh (IND) | 3.92 | 4 |
The above charts show the dominant performance put on display by the Indians that helped them clinch the ODI series and go on top the ICC Women’s Championship table alongside South Africa with 6 points whereas Sri Lanka have managed just a solitary win against Pakistan in their 6 matches so far in the 2022-25 Championship cycle.
India’s next ODI assignment will be their tour to England where they’ll play three-match series in September after the Commonwealth Games.
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