Jemimah fifty sets up India win vs SL

Six-time champions India cruised to a 41-run win over Sri Lanka, courtesy of batter Jemimah Rodrigues’ fifty, on Saturday opening day of the Women’s Asia Cup in Sylhet.

After being put into bat, India were in a spot of bother losing both their openers Shafali Verma (10) and Smriti Mandhana (6) well within the powerplay.

Coming in at three, Jemimah put together a 92-run stand with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur giving the Indian innings momentum. The captain fell for 33 off 30 balls, but Jemimah carried on as she scored 76 off 53 deliveries, hitting 11 fours and one six in the process before being castled by skipper Chamari Athapathu in the 18th over. The Lankans tightened the screws and India posted 150-6.

Off-spinner Oshadi Ranasinghe was the pick of the bowlers as she scalped three wickets for 32 runs, while Sugandika Kumari and Chamari took a wicket each.

In reply, Sri Lanka lost their skipper Athapathu (5) early in the fourth over and Deepti Sharma run out Malsha Shehani for nine leaving the Lankans at 43-2 at the end of the first six.

Opener Harshitha Samarawickrama smashed five boundaries from the other end but she too went back to the hut for 26 runs off 20 balls after being run out.

The Lankans following the dismissal of the top three failed to gather momentum, losing wickets regularly. Achini Kulasuriya was the last batter to go as Sri Lanka were bundled out for 109. Dayalan Hemalatha picked up three wickets, while Deepti and Pooja took two each.