Sri Lanka lost the opening match by 59 runs (in DLS method).
The hosts India and Sri Lanka went head-to-head in the enthralling ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 opener in Guwahati on September 30. After reducing the co-hosts to 124/6 in just 27 overs, Chamari Athapaththu and Co. had a great chance to start off their campaign with a victory over India, whom many had predicted to go all the way to clinch that elusive silverware.
But their bowling in the latter half of the first innings, followed by an abysmal batting show while chasing 270 runs, ended up handing the team a losing start to the mega ICC event. Ahead of the next clash against the reigning champions, Australia, captain Athapaththu has hoped her team to learn from their previous mistakes.
Spinner Inoka Ranaweera had starred with a brilliant four-wicket haul, while Udeshika Prabodhani scalped two against the Women in Blue. Achini Kulasuriya and captain Athapaththu had snared one each in their first match of the tournament. But the skipper has addressed their poor batting issue, which she felt was necessary to work on before proceeding deeper into the tournament.
“When we are in a big game like this, we can’t expect to be making such silly mistakes. It lets the team down, it lets the country down. We are all answerable. In this format, 30-run scores have no value. Four batters playing in the match must score a hundred or at least above fifty to win the match,” she stated in the pre-match press conference.
The all-rounder banked on the squad, which includes several veteran players, to bounce back stronger and put up a fight against the mighty Australians. Notably, Australia have recently defeated India 2-1 in an ODI series and also kickstarted their title defense with a huge 89-run win over New Zealand.
“At this moment, we can’t say we don’t have experience. Hasini (Perera), Anushka (Sanjeewani), Harshita (Samarawickrama) all have been playing for a while. Vishmi (Gunaratne) is probably the least experienced there but also has quality,” added Athapaththu.
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The team is all set to lock horns with Australia in the upcoming fixture in Colombo. Ahead of the marquee clash, Athapaththu also spoke about her team’s dropped chances in the previous fixture. However, the skipper believes that if every player brings out their best on the field, they could even beat one of the toughest sides of the tournament.
“No one drops catches intentionally. But this is our profession. We must do it correctly. In this tournament, ranking is just a number. No one can take any team lightly. If we play our best game on our home soil against World Champions, we can win this game,” she noted.
Previously, their best result in the 50-over league had come in 2013, when Sri Lanka registered a fifth-place finish, since their quarter-final qualification in 1997. However, before enduring a losing start to the championship, Sri Lanka also faced an one-run defeat against Bangladesh in their solitary warm-up fixture. Another preparatory match against Pakistan was abandoned due to rain after 7.3 overs into the first innings.
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