Kaur credits India’s batting resilience after winning WC start

India’s mission to claim a maiden 50-over Women’s Cricket World Cup is off to a positive start, beating foes Sri Lanka by 59 runs (DLS method) in Guwahati on Tuesday.

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the home side who lost four wickets for four runs in the middle stages of their innings, falling to 124/6 after 27 overs.

Sri Lanka’s sixth pole brought Amanjot Kaur to the crease, who steadied things for India with Deepti Sharma. Apart from putting their team’s batting depth on show, the pair put on 103 runs for a stand that helped set up victory.

Post-game, Amanjot (57 off 56 balls) shot down suggestions there were nerves when she came to the crease, clinging to full belief in not only the process but the player she shared a wicket with.

“I knew Deepti was with me,” she said. “We can make a long partnership. I wanted to stay on the wicket. The wicket was a little sticky, it was holding, it was moving, so as long as we played, we knew we could get a decent total for India and we did that.

“I rarely get a chance to bat — I got the chance today [Tuesday] and I enjoyed it and I’m sure Deepti was also happy to do batting.

“If I would have played slowly and got out, then you would say I wasted so many balls and didn’t get any runs. That is how cricket is. At least that ball will not be spoilt for the next person — because ultimately you have to put up a score on the scoreboard to defend.”

With a win on the board, India will look to stay in the moment and turn their attention to what promises to be a huge matchup with Pakistan in Colombo on Sunday.

“We’re going to take this game by game,” Amanjot said. “Day 1 we have done well and we have won. Now we have to have eight more good days — hopefully we will have eight good days.”

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will draw on the positives after their loss to India.

“I think as a team there were a lot of good things,” bowler Inoka Ranaweera said after claiming a game-high four wickets (4/46 off nine overs).

“If we take bowling, we bowled first and also in batting, we had a good partnership in batting as well. That’s something positive when we are moving forward.”

Sri Lanka will host reigning champions Australia on Saturday in Colombo in their next World Cup showdown.

ICC