Deepti Sharma stars to help India make winning start at ICC Women's World Cup

While the final result was a comfortable win, India needed a century stand for the seventh wicket from Amanjot Kaur and Deepti Sharma to rescue a perilous situation with as they battled to total of 269-8 after the match was reduced to 47 overs.

Sharma then played a starring role with the ball, taking 3-54, as Sri Lanka could manage 211 all out in their allotted overs.

ndia suffered an early blow when Smriti Mandhana picked out Vishmi Gunaratne at deep point off the bowling of Udeshika Prabodhani for just eight.

Harleen Deol joined Pratika Rawal and the pair proceeded to build slowly, adding 67 either side of a rain delay, before a second catch for Gunaratne, Inoka Ranaweera removing Rawal for 37.

With skipper Harmanpreet Kaur entering the fray, the game was evenly poised, with India 81 for two in the 20th over.

The pair combined to add 39 in six overs before a dramatic collapse sparked by Ranaweera (4/46).

The spinner kicked things off by snagging Deol for 48 as she misjudged a lifted drive and chipped to extra cover.

Jemimah Rodrigues was then beaten all ends up and bowled the next ball before a third wicket in the over, the skipper, caught behind for 21.

Suddenly, India were in all sorts of trouble and things got worse when Richa Ghosh found Prabodhani off the bowling of Chamari Athapaththu for two.

That brought Amanjot Kaur to the crease, joining Deepti Sharma with India 124 for six.

Stability was the order of the day and the pair proceeded to bat positively to rebuild, with Amanjot taking a few extra chances on her way to a brilliant 57.

She was helped by some fielding errors, dropped three times on her way to a half-century on her World Cup debut.

Eventually Gunaratne held onto arguably the toughest chance of the lot, a brilliant grab near the boundary off Prabodhani to end the partnership at 103.

A second rain delay had reduced the innings to 47 overs and Sneh Rana made a valuable contribution down the order.

She hit a pair of sixes on her way to an unbeaten 28 off just 15 balls, while Sharma completed her half-century, going for 53 off the final ball of the innings.

In reply, Sri Lanka made a solid start before Hasini Perera missed a straight one-off debutant Kranti Gaud and was bowled for 14.

Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama added 52 for the second wicket before Sharma took the all-important wicket of the Sri Lankan skipper.

Athapaththu had looked dangerous with four fours and three sixes but was beaten by a full delivery from Sharma, departing bowled for 43.

Samarawickrama was next to go, trapped in front by Shree Charani for 29 with Vishmi Gunaratne (11) suffering the same fate off Amanjot to leave Sri Lanka 105 for four.

The chase was starting to falter, and Sharma grabbed a second wicket when Kaveesha Dilhari edged one behind for 15.

Sharma continued to chip away, with Anushka Sanjeewani (6) next to go before Sneh Rana got in on the act, getting Nilakshika Silva (35) and Sugandika Kumari (10), both bowled.

Achini Kulasuriya fell with 200 not yet up before Pratika Rawal finished off proceedings with eight balls to spare.

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