India vs Sri Lanka, ICC Women World Cup Qualifier 2017, Preview: Hosts eye winning start
India vs Sri Lanka, ICC Women World Cup Qualifier 2017, Preview
India women will take on Sri Lanka women in the in Group A match of the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2017 at P Sara Oval, Colombo. This is the first of the 30 scheduled qualifiers to be held from February 7 to 21 for the upcoming Women’s world cup. India and Sri Lanka have been included in the Group A along with Ireland, Zimbabwe and Thailand while Group B consists of South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Scotland and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Sri Lanka women would definitely be looking to make their chances count as they have the advantage of playing in their home conditions. But given the past performances of both teams, Team India is certainly the stronger side on paper.
Despite having talented players in the squad, the Indian team has been marred by injuries to key players which has changed a lot of things with respect to the team composition. The latest setback being seamers Jhulan Goswami and Sukanya Parida, for whom Soni Yadav and Mansi Joshi have been named as replacements. In another major blow, India batter Smriti Mandhana too has been ruled out of the tournament.
Mandhana, who played for Sydney Thunder, ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament after landing awkwardly while bowling against the Melbourne Renegades. Mona Meshram has been named as her replacement. Mandhana’s exclusion is likely to increase India’s opening woes. MD Thirushkamini, Deepti Sharma or Meshram, may open the innings for India. Keeping these injuries in mind, Mithali Raj, India women’s team captain will have to reshuffle in her starting XI to bring out the best result.
India will also try to take revenge for their loss against Sri Lanka women’s team from the ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 where they defeated India by 138 runs in the preliminary stages to knock them out. But since then, a lot has changed for both teams as India found game-changing players while Sri Lanka struggled with consistency issues.
For Sri Lanka, Chamari Athapaththu and Prasadani Weerakkody are the leading batters while captain Inoka Ranaweera and Shashikala Siriwardene would be looking to make the most of the home surfaces. Apart from these, other players have struggled to carry on with their part consistently.
In these qualifiers, the sides finishing in the top four of the Super Six stage of the tournament will join Australia, England, New Zealand and West Indies in the eight-team tournament to be played from June 26 to July 23 in England.
India: Mithali Raj (c), Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Thirush Kamini, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Sushma Verma (wk), Soni Yadav, Mansi Joshi.
Sri Lanka Women: Inoka Ranaweera (c), Chamari Atapattu, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Nipuni Hansika, Eshani Lokusuriyage, Sugandika Kumari, Harshitha Madavi, Dilani Manodara, Hasini Perera, Udeshika Prabodhani, Chamari Polgampola, Malsha Shehani, Prasadani Weerakkody (wk), Sripali Weerakkody
Time: 10:00 am | 4:30 am GMT |