Women’s Cricket World Cup begins with Sri Lanka bowling first to India

GUWAHATI, India (AP) — Captain Chamari Athapaththu won the coin toss and opted for Sri Lanka to bowl first against India in the opening match of the Women’s Cricket World Cup on Tuesday.

Eight teams will contest 31 matches for a chance to lift the trophy on Nov. 2 after the final in either Colombo or Navi Mumbai.

Guwahati, Indore, Visakhapatnam and Navi Mumbai are hosting India’s leg of the tournament. Colombo in Sri Lanka is the other venue, and where Pakistan will play its matches.

India is gunning for its first Women’s World Cup crown from its fourth tournament on home turf after 1978, 1997 and 2013.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur chose a three-spinner attack, which is anticipated to be par for the course in the tournament.

Opener Smriti Mandhana is the batter to watch for the home crowds. She has scored 2,100 runs at average of 58.33, including eight centuries, since the previous World Cup in 2022 in New Zealand.

India finished fifth in New Zealand, and will be relying on the Kaur-Mandhana duo to spearhead its campaign.

Sri Lanka has gone for a deeper batting lineup to No. 7. It did not qualify for the 2022 tournament and will play five of its seven group matches at home.

This is the first women’s ODI hosted at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. The pitch should aid batters, but evening dew could help the chasing side.

___

Lineups:

India: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Sneh Rana, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani

Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu (captain), Hasini Perera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Achini Kulasuriya, Sugandika Kumari, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoka Ranaweera

___

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket