Who is Inoka Ranaweera? Sri Lanka's 39-year-old veteran becomes oldest to bag a 4-wicket haul in women’s ODI World Cup

Inoka Ranaweera grabbed the limelight when the Sri Lankan made the Indian batters dance to her tunes in the opening encounter of the ICC Women's World Cup 2025 at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Tuesday. Sent into bat first, India lost Smriti Mandhana early in the innings before Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol revived the sinking ship.

However, it was Ranaweera who triggered an Indian middle-order collapse with three wickets in an over. From being at 120/2 at the start of the 26th over, the Indians slumped to 121/5 in the next five deliveries. Deol was the first to go when she was caught by Kavisha Dilhari.

Jemimah Rodrigues was clean bowled in the next delivery before captain Harmanpreet Kaur followed suit three balls later, caught by Anushka Sanjeewani. She finished with 4/46 in her nine overs.

In the process, Ranaweera, at 39 years and 224 days, became the second-oldest cricketer to bag a four-wicket haul in women’s ODIs and the oldest at the Women’s World Cup. West Indies' Pamela Lavine is still the oldest to scalp a four-fer aged 41 years and 39 days against Sri Lanka in 2010. She finished with 4/17.

Inoka Ranaweera — all you need to know

At 39, Ranaweera is one of the veteran Sri Lankan internationals playing at this level. A former captain, Ranaweera led Sri Lanka in ODIs. The highlight of her international career came in 2015 when Ranaweera became the first Sri Lankan woman to take an ODI hat-trick, in a match against New Zealand. She had received the Women's ODI Bowler of the Year award given by Sri Lanka Cricket twice in 2016 and 2017.

What did Inoka Ranaweera say about her show?

For Ranaweera, her original plan was to maintain good line and length. “The original plan was to bowl a good line and length, her execution was good, she didn't start well but came back to pick those wickets. She wanted to contain the runs and bowl aggressively, she had that (of picking a 5-fer) chance but she missed it (dropped a return catch),” she said.

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