The battle for supremacy continues in the five-match T20 series India And Sri Lanka Are faced in the second encounter At the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
After an impressive eight-wicket win on Sunday, the Women in Blue entered today’s match with the momentum of world champions but faced an unexpected hurdle at the time of the toss. India once again won the coin toss and elected to field, trying to take advantage of the evening dew which played a crucial role in the series opener. However, the biggest talking point of the evening came before the first ball was bowled, when the team sheet revealed a major absence from the Indian lineup. The host team has to go through this important match without its key all-rounder. Deepti SharmaWhile a resilient Sri Lankan side opted for consistency in search of an equaliser.
The reason behind Deepti Sharma’s departure from IND-W vs SL-W 2nd T20I
captain Harmanpreet Kaur It has been confirmed that the world’s top-ranked bowler will miss the second T20 match due to illness. Despite the setback, Harmanpreet remained confident about the depth of her team and entrusted the comeback to fellow off-spinner Sneh RanaIndia’s decision to bowl first reflects their successful strategy from the first game, which aimed to keep the target within reach before the pitch slowed down, Addressing the lineup change during the toss, Harmanpreet said, “Deepti is not well today, she has fever, so Sneh Rana is back in the team.”
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu Despite the heavy defeat on Sunday, he showed immense confidence in his unit by selecting an unchanged playing XI. Emphasizing the need for mental change rather than personnel change, Athapaththu commented, “We are going with the same XI. I still have confidence in our team, we have backed some youngsters and want to give them more opportunities. The important thing for us is to play positive cricket in the middle overs. In the last game, we played a few shots behind square. Today, we want to play straightforward – focus more on long-on and long-off, play to our strengths and build partnerships. Hopefully our batsmen will step up today.”
Also read: Jemimah Rodrigues, bowlers lead India to comprehensive win over Sri Lanka in 1st T20I
A historic milestone: Deepti reaches world number one
Meanwhile, in a moment of immense pride for Indian cricket, veteran all-rounder Deepti officially became Number one ranked T20I bowler Came into the world for the first time in her illustrious career. International Cricket Council (ICC) updated their rankings on Tuesday afternoon, rewarding Deepti for her consistent excellence and her match-defining spell in the opening match of the series. His economical figures of 1/20 from four overs on Sunday earned him the vital rating points needed to overtake Australia. Annabel Sutherland,
Deepti now tops the list with 737 rating points and is ahead of Sutherland by just one point. This achievement follows a sensational 2025 season where she was also named Player of the Tournament in the Women’s ODI World Cup. Reflecting on his development, experts said that his ability to contain batsmen in the powerplay and achieve success in the death overs has made him the most dangerous off-spinner in the shortest format.
Also read: IND-W vs SL-W: Smriti Mandhana breaks Suzie Bates’ record in T20Is
This article was first published here WomenCricket.comA Cricket Times Company.
