The Indian women’s cricket team will be in action after a few months of WPL, rest and some domestic cricket as they begin their final preparations for the home World Cup later this year.
The tri-nations series will serve as a perfect dress rehearsal for the World Cup – tournament format, more than one team, the pressure of net run rate and sub-continent conditions. Yes, one could argue that Sri Lanka might not be the strongest opponent, considering their below-par performance recently on the New Zealand tour, but not long ago, the islanders defeated the Indian team in the Asia Cup final.
For India, the series will be about results but more than that, it will be a way to figure out their best XI, even though the Women in Blue don’t have their first-choice players available with Renuka Singh Thakur, Pooja Vastrakar and Titas Sadhu injured, Shafali Verma not considered and the likes of Priya Mishra and Saima Thakore on the fringe. India will be short on their bowling resources, so the batting might have to do the heavy lifting.
For Sri Lanka, it will be key to have the likes of Harshitha Madavi, Nilakshi de Silva and Vishmi Gunaratne – players other than the skipper Chamari Athapaththu – to start putting up consistent performances in order to be counted and help their side put on decent scores.
My Dream11 team for Women’s tri-series Match 1, SL-W vs IND-W
Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Chamari Athapaththu, Sneh Rana, Kashvee Gautam, Kavisha Dilhari, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Arundhati Reddy
Probable Playing XIs
Sri Lanka Women: Chamari Athapaththu(c), Vishmi Gunaratne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Manudi Nanayakkara, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani(w), Sugandika Kumari, Malki Madara, Kavisha Dilhari, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Achini Kulasuriya
India Women: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Yastika Bhatia / Richa Ghosh (w), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Kashvee Gautam, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, N Charani