India's bowlers shot out Sri Lanka for only 98 in 35.1 overs at the Galle International Stadium before Smriti Mandhana stroked an unbeaten 73 off 76 balls to bring up victory in 19.5 overs in the first ODI in ICC Women's Championship. Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka were in trouble early, with Mansi Joshi having Prasadani Weerakkody caught behind in the sixth over with the score on just eight. Sri Lanka had started slow, and were consistently hindered by the new-ball tandem of Jhulan Goswami and Joshi, who returned to international cricket after 14 months, recovering from a knee injury sustained in December last year. The duo reduced the hosts to 18 for 3 in the Powerplay, and the spinners mounted further pressure thereafter.
Goswami snared Nipuni Hansika in the ninth over, for her 300th international wicket, the first woman to get that many. Goswami, who called time on her T20I career ahead of the tour, would later return to get Udeshika Prabodhani, and now has 40 wickets in Tests, 205 in ODIs and 56 in T20Is.
Joshi ended up with the best figures, taking 3 for 16 in 6.1 overs, while Goswami took 2 for 13 in eight. Poonam Yadav, who became the second-fastest Indian to 50 ODI wickets, finished with 2 for 13 in four. Save for Harmanpreet Kaur, who bowled only one over, every other Indian bowler had at least one wicket, including debutant D Hemalatha.
For Sri Lanka, the only notable contributions came from captain Chamari Atapattu, who made 33 and was seventh out, and No 8 batsman Sripali Weerakkody who made 26.
Coming off a prolific run at the Kia Super League in the UK, where she finished as the leading run-getter and the Player of the Tournament, Mandhana took the lead in India's chase, getting into her stride quickly and finding the fence regularly. At the break, India had already reached 43 without loss in in seven overs, with Mandhana on 31 off 29. The lunch interval didn't hamper Mandhana's momentum, with two fours in the first over on resumption. She reached her half-century - her fifth in six ODI innings - in only 42 balls, with a six off Weerakkody.
India looked set for a ten-wicket victory when Punam Raut miscued an inside-out lofted drive to backward point off Inoka Ranaweera to end the opening stand at 96 in 18.4 overs. Mandhana, who appeared to be in visible discomfort against Shashikala Siriwardene's offspin, escaped at least three edges in the last over of the chase. She hit a boundary off the fifth ball of the 19th over - off Siriwardene - to seal the chase.
Mithali Raj faced only two balls and didn't score off them, but this was still a landmark match for her. She went past Charlotte Edwards as the captain with most ODI appearances - this being her 118th in charge - and equalled Edwards' record for most wins as captain, with her 72nd victory.
