🏏Indian Women's tour of SriLanka 2022 - 1st ODI - Pallekele🏏

🏏Indian Women Vs SriLankan Women - 1st ODI Pallekele🏏

Where will Harmanpreet bat? And what is Deepti's role now?

India play ODIs for the first since Mithali Raj's retirement, and there might be some changes in the way they apporoach the format now

.After India won the T20I series 2-1 in Sri Lanka, it's time for the ODIs, starting Friday. This is the first ODI engagement for India after Mithali Raj retired, with Jhulan Goswami's future looking uncertain. This is also the first time India play ODI cricket after a league-stage exit at the World Cup earlier this year. Here are some questions they will look to answer over the course of the three-match series.

When Raj occupied the No. 4 spot, Harmanpreet followed her. Only twice in the last two years has she batted at No. 4 in ODIs: once against South Africa at home in 2021, when she had to retire injured, and then against New Zealand earlier this year, when her 63 coupled with Raj's unbeaten 54 helped India score their only win in the five-match ODI series.

Athapaththu: We can be competitive if we put up 250-260 in the ODIs and 150-160 in T20Is

SL bank on home conditions as the fine-tune their plans for the Commonwealth Games next monthThe Commonwealth Games are a little over a month away, and Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu is under no illusions as to how important the upcoming limited-overs series against India is in terms of preparation, especially for a side that is high on potential, but rather light on experience.

Squads 

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), S Meghana, Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Simran Bahadur, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol

Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu (Captain), Hasini Perera, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeevani, Oshadhi Ranasinghe, Sugandika Kumari, Inoka Ranaweera, Achini Kulasuriya, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Malsha Shehani, Ama Kanchana, Udeshika Prabodhani, Rashmi de Silva, Hansima Karunaratne, Kaushani Nuthyangana, Sathya Sandeepani, Tharika Sewwandi

Players to watch

Harmanpreet Kaur: 

The captain of India had a good run in the recently concluded T20I series against Sri Lanka. She won the player of the series for her all-round contributions. She scored 92 runs in three matches and accounted for one wicket. Apart from her all-round abilities, she will be required to lead the team from the front with her smart captainship moves.

Smriti Mandhana: 

The left-handed opening batter is an experienced cricketer with 71 ODIs to her name. She has mustered 2788 runs, including 22 half-centuries and five centuries. She averages a healthy 37 against Sri Lanka and has five half-centuries in 10 matches against them.

Chamari Athapaththu:

The captain of Sri Lanka won the player of the match in the third and final T20I against India on June 27. The left-handed opening batter is a prolific cricketer with 2767 runs in 87 ODIs, including 14 half-centuries and six centuries. Apart from her batting, she is more than a handy off spinner and has 25 wickets in 41 ODI innings to her name.

Inoka Ranaweera: 

The left arm spinner from Sri Lanka was the leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded three-match T20I series against India. She picked up six wickets and bowled her full quota of four overs in all the three matches. Apart from this, she has 64 wickets in 62 ODIs, including one four-wicket haul.

Pitch Report:

This will be the first women’s ODI that will be played at this venue. Prior to this, Pallekele has hosted 25 men’s ODIs. The highest score at this venue is 363 and the lowest score is 70. The teams batting first and the teams batting second have won an equal number of matches, which is 12 with one match being abandoned. Being the first match of the series, expect a fresh wicket, which will favour the batters. However, the cloudy condition may assist the fast bowlers, especially in the first hour of the play.

Weather Forecast:

The weather is expected to be mostly cloudy with a thunderstorm. The temperature can go up to 29 degrees Celsius. As per the forecast, there is 80 percent chance of rain and 85 percent cloud cover. The wind will blow from the west.

Match details:

Date: July 1, 2022

Time: 10AM IST

Venue: Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele, Sri Lanka

Live streaming: Fancode

Head-to-Head:

India and Sri Lanka have played 29 ODIs against each other, out of which India have won 26, Sri Lanka have won two and one match did not produce a result.

Thanks for the tag Raji😃

https://twitter.com/BCCIWomen/status/1542716094460604416?s=20&t=MflIvWQOP3CiTBp2Wt0oAQ

May the best team win!

https://twitter.com/BCCIWomen/status/1542712918487502848?s=20&t=MflIvWQOP3CiTBp2Wt0oAQ

Toss update: Sri Lanka have won the toss and opt to bat

For the first time since 2016, the Indian women have an undisputed white-ball captain in Harmanpreet Kaur. There are some big shoes to fill, but Harmanpreet is relishing the challenge.