India Women Cruise to 8-Wicket Victory Over Sri Lanka in First T20I at Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam, Dec 2025 : The Indian women’s cricket team began their five-match T20I series against Sri Lanka on a strong note, winning the first match by 8 wickets at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium on Sunday. With this win, Team India takes a 1-0 lead in the series.

Sri Lanka, sent into bat after losing the toss, struggled to post a competitive total and were restricted to 121/6 in 20 overs. Captain Chamari Athapaththu fell early for 15 runs as the visitors were 18/1. Vishmi Gunaratne tried to stabilize the innings, sharing a 31-run second-wicket partnership with Hasini Perera. Perera contributed 20 runs before being dismissed, after which Gunaratne and Harshitha Madhavi added 38 runs for the third wicket, taking Sri Lanka to 87. Gunaratne scored 39 off 43 balls, including one six and one four, while Madhavi added 21 runs. For India, Kranti Gaud, Deepti Sharma, and N. Shree Charani took one wicket apiece.

In reply, India chased down the target comfortably in 14.4 overs, despite an early setback with Shefali Verma dismissed for 9 at 13/1. Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues then rebuilt the innings with a 54-run partnership for the second wicket. Mandhana scored 25, achieving the milestone of becoming the first Indian woman to reach 4,000 runs in T20 internationals.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur joined Rodrigues for an unbroken 55-run third-wicket stand off 39 balls, steering India to victory with ease. Jemimah Rodrigues remained unbeaten on 69 off 44 balls, including 10 fours, while Kaur was unbeaten on 15. For Sri Lanka, Kavya Kavindi and Inoka Ranaweera claimed one wicket each.

The Indian team’s clinical performance with both bat and ball highlighted their depth and experience, setting a strong tone for the remaining matches in the series.