Poonam Yadav ran through the Sri Lankan top order after Taniya Bhatia and Jemimah Rodrigues blitz with the bat to lead India to a 13-run win in the first T20I at Katunayake on Wednesday.
Yadav picked up 4 for 26 in her four overs to bowl Sri Lanka out for 155 in 19.3 overs in reply to India’s 168 for 8. Sri Lanka were off to a flying start, racing to 39 inside 3 overs through Yasoda Mendis (32 off 12) and Chamari Atapattu (27 off 22) when debutant Arundhati Reddy removed Mendis after in the last ball of the third over.
Sri Lanka remained in the hunt until leg-spinner Yadav's consistent breakthroughs took the game away from them as they were 155 all out in 19.3 overs. The 27-year-old from Agra ended with figures of four for 26 in four overs.
Radha Yadav and Harmanpreet Kaur too chipped in with the ball, taking two wickets each. Eshani Lokusuriyage top-scored for Sri Lanka with 45 off 31 balls but her spirited effort did not prove to be enough in the end.
Earlier, Teenager Rodrigues smashed 36 off 15 balls in a whirlwind inning that saw her becoming the first Indian woman to hit three sixes in an over.
The 18-year-old alongside wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia (46 off 35) and Anuja Patil (36 off 29) powered India to 168 for eight in 20 overs.
Veda Krishnamurthy too played her part with a 15-ball 21.
The second T20 will be played in Colombo on Friday. India had won the three-match series 2-1.