An hour before the first ball was bowled in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday, Delhi Capitals named Jemimah Rodrigues as their captain for the Women’s Premier League 2026 season. Later in the evening, the 25-year-old was among three DC players who played a key role in India going 2-0 up in the five-match series against Sri Lanka, with a seven-wicket win.
Chasing a modest 129 runs for victory wasn’t going to be much of a challenge. Smriti Mandhana’s early wicket may have perhaps allowed Sri Lanka a sniff, but Shafali Verma teed off promptly, with Rodrigues looking in good touch again as India romped home in the 12th over. The duo decided to take on the spinners and executed their plans perfectly. Rodrigues took the aerial route more than once to up the scoring rate. And once she got her eye in, Verma joined in the fun soon enough as both players made the most of insipid bowling on a benign surface to drive India’s innings forward.
The pair knocked off more than half the runs in the opening powerplay, reaching 68/1 after six overs, forcing opposition skipper Chamari Athapaththu to turn to pace, sooner than what she would have liked. The move brought some respite as Rodrigues fell attempting to clear long-on, but her 58-run stand off 28 balls with Verma had already set the foundation for victory.
𝗜.𝗖.𝗬.𝗠.𝗜
Shafali Verma got to her half-century with a lovely shot 👌
She led #TeamIndia‘s chase with 6⃣9⃣*(34) 🔥
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/Umn9ZGAexw#INDvSL | @TheShafaliVerma | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/bMcaOpD4BW
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 23, 2025
Verma motored on in her innings, getting to her fifty off 27 balls with a short-arm pull for four of Kawya Kavindi, and closed out the match, staying unbeaten on 69 off 34 balls to continue the winning run.
Spin trio shine
Earlier, Harmanpreet Kaur won her second consecutive toss and opted to field again. Kranti Gaud vindicated her captain’s decision by dismissing Vishmi Gunaratne in the first over.
Athapaththu tried to inject some momentum into the innings with some big strikes, but Sneh Rana – playing in place of the unwell Deepti Sharma – showed her class soon. She dismissed the dangerous-looking southpaw with a dipping ball that forced a mistimed shot, which fell into Amanjot Kaur’s hands at long-off for 31.
The dismissal would set the tone for the rest of the innings. Sensing the slow nature of the pitch, Harmanpreet rotated her spinners efficiently, and the bowlers responded splendidly, mixing their pace and lengths to make batting difficult for the Sri Lankans.
Hasini Perera and Harshitha Samarawickrama put on 44 runs for the third wicket, but Sree Charani eventually broke through in the 13th over by dismissing Perera, caught and bowled for 22, to peg the visitors back further. The left-arm spinner was the most impressive bowler on show, controlling her lengths superbly to keep a lid on the scoring rate.
𝐈.𝐂.𝐘.𝐌.𝐈
Moment to remember for Vaishnavi Sharma ✨
🎥 Relive her first 2⃣ wickets in #TeamIndia colours 👏
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/Umn9ZGAexw#INDvSL | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/821EceO5vu
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 23, 2025
The Indians focussed on taking the pace off the ball, and although the Sri Lankan batters showed a greater intent to go for the big hits as compared to the first match, timing eluded them, and they kept finding the fielders.
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An endearing moment came when rookie left-arm spinner Vaishnavi Sharma claimed her first international wicket, removing Nilakshika Silva for two runs in the 18th over, caught by Charani at fine leg. With Charani having dropped a chance of her bowling on debut, the teammates enjoyed a good laugh as they celebrated with Sharma. A couple of overs later, she picked her second wicket as Shashini Gimhani fell trying to use the long handle and was caught at long-on.
India’s spin trio sent down 12 overs, going for combined figures of 5/66. As was the case in the opening T20I, Sri Lanka could not score enough boundaries – managing 11 fours and two sixes in 20 overs – which meant they registered a sub-par score again.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 128/9 in 20 overs (Harshitha 33, Athapaththu 31; Charani 2/23, Sharma 2/32) lost to India 129/3 in 11.5 overs (Verma 69 not out, Rodrigues 26) by seven wickets.
