India Women win toss, opt to field first against Sri Lanka in 1st T20I

India Women won the toss and opted to field first against Sri Lanka in the opening T20I. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur cited potential dew as the reason. India holds a dominant 20-5 head-to-head record, and Vaishnavi Sharma makes her T20I debut.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India Women have won the toss and decided to field first in the first T20I of the five-match series against the Sri Lanka Women at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

India Women and Sri Lanka Women have faced each other 26 times in T20I cricket. Out of these, the Women in Blue have secured 20 victories and suffered five defeats. One match between the two countries ended in a no-result.

What the captains said

During the toss, Women in Blue captain Harmanpreet Kaur said that there could be dew, so that was the reason to field first. She added that Vaishnavi Sharma will be making her T20I debut. "There will be dew, so that is a reason we want to bowl. We have one debutant, Vaishnavi, who is playing. All the old players are there. It is a new series for us, a new format. We always talk about playing fearless cricket, and that is what we want to do," Harmanpreet said during the toss, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Sri Lanka Women's captain Chamari Athapaththu said that they had a good preparation for the upcoming T20I series against India Women. She added that they will stick with their plans. "We had a good preparation. We have struggled with the weather in the last two days, but all good. We have six or seven youngsters playing, so I hope they make the opportunity count. We have a good team, and we are sticking with the plans," Chamari Athapaththu said during the toss.

Playing XIs of both teams

India Women: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, N Shree Charani.

Sri Lanka Women: Chamari Athapaththu (captain), Hasini Perera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Nilakshika Silva, Kaushini Nuthyangana (wicketkeeper), Kavisha Dilhari, Malki Madara, Inoka Ranaweera, Kawya Kavindi, Shashini Gimhani. (ANI)

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