Womens ODI World Cup | India begins as favorite in opposition to Sri Lanka

As you progress across the North-Eastern India’s largest metropolis lately, you wouldn’t miss Durga Puja. The temples, the streets all put on a festive look, and this celebration of the divine female goes late into the evening.

The timing, although not fairly intentional, is good for the ladies’s cricket World Cup. India is taking up Sri Lanka on the Barsapara Cricket Stadium on Tuesday (September 30, 2025). The opening match was initially scheduled to have been performed at Bengaluru, however all of the video games allotted to the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium needed to be moved out following the tragic stampede after RCB’s celebration of its maiden IPL triumph.

This is India’s solely World Cup sport on this floor, the place it had performed three T20Is in opposition to England in 2019. Only six gamers from that squad have survived; skipper Harmanpreet hadn’t performed that sequence due to an damage.

She is now main her nation for the primary time in an ODI World Cup. And she must be decided to get India on a successful begin, because the crew is offered with in all probability its finest likelihood until date to win a World Cup.

Harmanpreet is a part of a robust Indian batting unit, by which her vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has been a dominant power for a while. This yr, the left-handed opener has maybe been the most important headache for bowlers; she has notched up 4 ODI tons of so far.

Another good begin together with her opening associate Pratika Rawat may arrange stage for the likes of Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh. With the captain having acknowledged that each one the gamers are match, the crew might be fielding the absolute best bowling assault.

Sri Lanka, the co-host, will as soon as once more be trying to their biggest warrior in girls’s cricket, Chamari Athapaththu, for inspiration. She will want extra help from her teammates although in opposition to presumably the second strongest facet within the competitors.

The groups (from):

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Radha Yadav, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh, Arundhati Reddy, Sneh Rana, N. Shree Charani and Uma Chetri.

Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu (Capt.), Hasini Perera, Vishmi Gunarathne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kaveesha Dilhari, Nilakshika Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani, Imesha Dulani, Dewmi Vihanga, Piumi Wathsala, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Dasanayaka, Udeshika Prabodani, Malki Madara, and Achini Kulasuriya.