India start their Women's Asia Cup T20I 2022 campaign with a clash against Sri Lanka. Check match and telecast details.
After their historic ODI series win in England, India will enter the Women's Asia Cup 2022 as favourites. Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. start their campaign with a fixture against Sri Lanka on October 1 (Saturday) in Sylhet, Bangladesh. The IND-W vs SL-W, Asia Cup match will be telecast live in India from 1 PM IST. (More Cricket News)
The 2020 edition of the event in Bangladesh was first postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic before being cancelled altogether.
The tournament involves seven teams -- India, Pakistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, UAE and hosts Bangladesh. The tournament will follow a round-robin format -- with each team playing against the other once. Then the top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals.
India will hope to put behind the recent "Mankading" controversy when they take on Sri Lanka in the second match of the tournament. Hosts Bangladesh face minnows Thailand in the tournament opener on Saturday, starting 8:30 AM IST/9:00 AM local.
Match: Women's Asia Cup 2022, match 2, between India and Sri Lanka;
Date: October 1 (Saturday), 2022;
Time: 1:00 PM IST/1:30 PM local;
Venue: Sylhet Outer Cricket Stadium, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
All Women's Asia Cup 2022 matches will be telecast live on Star Sports Network. Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2 HD will live telecast the India women vs Sri Lanka women cricket match from 1 PM IST. Live streaming of IND-W vs SL-W will be available on Disney+ Hotstar.
The Asia Cup was transformed from ODI to T20 format in 2012 and India have won twice, while losing to hosts Bangladesh in the last edition in 2018. And, India would look to assert their continental dominance in the tournament, which returns after a hiatus of four years.
India women haven't had a lot of success of late in the T20 format but at the continental level, Harmanpreet Kaur's team will start as clear favourites. Barring their only blemish in the last edition of the tournament, India have won all the Asia Cup titles since the event's inception in 2004 (four titles in ODI format and two in the T20 version).
Harmanpreet has been in imperious form. Smriti Mandhana too is in good touch but Shafali Verma, Sabbhineni Meghana and Dayalan Hemalatha need their bats do the talking. Jemimah Rodrigues' return to the side after missing the tour of England due to a hand injury, augurs well for India. Wicket-keeper Richa
Ghosh, who made a comeback in England after being dropped from the Commonwealth Games, is also in the mix. India's seam bowling attack will be led by Renuka Singh, while Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti will be in charge of the spin department.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will be heavily relying on skipper Chamari Athapaththu to deliver the goods with the bat in the absence of young Vishmi Gunaratne, who is out due to a back stress fracture. The island nation's middle-order will revolve around Hasini Perera and Harshitha Samarawickrama, while the bowling attack will heavily depend on spinners Inoka Ranaweera and Oshadi Ranasinghe.
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Sabbineni Meghana, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, KP Navgire.
Sri Lanka: Chamari Atapattu (c), Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Achini Kulasuriya, Sugandika Kumari, Harshitha Madhavi, Madushika Methtananda, Hasini Perera, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Inoka Ranaweera, Anushka Sanjeevani (wk), Kaushani Nuthyangana, Malsha Shehani, Rashmi Silva, Tharika Sewwandi.
(With PTI inputs)