India vs Sri Lanka Highlights, Women’s World Cup 2025: All-round Deepti Sharma powers IND to 59-run win via DLS method

For the women in blue, success has always just evaded them when it comes to winning the biggest trophies. India have been competitive at the ICC Women's ODI World Cup, and came closest in 2017, only to see a trophy snatched from their fingertips. Now, the tournament comes back to the subcontinent, 12 years on from when India last hosted this tournament. 2013 was a year to forget for the team: could 2025 be the one that can never be forgotten?

After a lacklustre outing at the previous Women's World Cup, India have put in extreme amounts of preparation ahead of their chance to host this tournament. They won't be playing at the premium venues in the country — a fact that has rightly earned a lot of criticism from many quarters, as the women's game continues to be less invested in and pushed forward far less to the cricket-crazy masses than the men's team. But they do get to visit regions of the country that have equally never been in the limelight for the sport: they begin their campaign in the north-east, in Guwahati, and the hope will be that as the tournament builds up, as will the confidence and the hype around this team.

India have played in 38 Women's ODIs since the conclusion of the previous World Cup, and that has included 14 crucial matches this year, in which they have given a very strong account of themselves. This isn't a perfect team by any means, as there remain plenty of question marks and areas for improvement – but it has proven itself to be a brave, scrappy team, one with plenty of quality scattered across that is capable of making a difference. Smriti Manadhana enters the tournament in the form of her life and will want to have an impact, as will names such as Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh, with a bowling unit that will want to be effective against the top teams.

They run into Sri Lanka, their co-hosts for the tournament, captained by the all-round sensation Chamari Athapaththu. This is a team that has upset India in big matches in the recent past, such as the Asia Cup, and also has aspirations of reaching the knockout stages of this tournament with an impressive showing.

It won't be an easy run through this tournament: with only 8 teams, it is a situation in which every result counts. Can the women in blue script destiny starting with a win tonight?

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