Women's Asia Cup: Jemimah Rodrigues propels India to a 41-run win over Sri Lanka

Jemimah, who had been going through a patch of poor form recently, showed what she was capable of at a time when the team arguably needed it the most.

Put in to bat first after Sri Lanka won the toss, India did not get off to the best of starts. The blue women lost Smriti Mandhana (6) and Shafali Verma (10) by the end of the fourth over.

At 23-2, the stage was set for another middle-order collapse. However, Jemimah and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur steadied the ship and put together a crucial 92-run stand for the third wicket.

Of the two, Jemimah played the role of the aggressor as she looked to take on the Sri Lankan bowlers more often. She hit 11 fours and 1 six during her stay at the crease.

Harmanpreet, by contrast, looked to keep the scoreboard ticking and only scored two fours and a six during her time at the crease.

Nevertheless, her 30-ball 33 proved invaluable in the end, and when she departed, it seemed like India was on course for a total of around 170.

That they fell exactly 20 runs short – they scored 150-6 in their 20 overs – was down mainly to a lower order collapse. Jemimah departed shortly after Harmanpreet, with Richa Ghosh and Pooja Vastrakar dismissed without troubling the scorers.

But it was still a challenging total – and India had the bowling line-up to contain or even dismiss the Sri Lankan batters. In the end, they held the scoring rate by taking regular wickets, to the point wherein the Sri Lankans couldn't even bat through their 20 overs.

Dayalan Hemalatha was the pick of the bowlers, although she ran through the lower order to finish the match.

The top order damage was done by Deepti Sharma, who not only got two wickets but effected a crucial run-out as well – although this time it wasn't of the 'Mankad' variety, instead featured her pulling off an exceptional 360-degree turn and firing a throw home all in one motion.

Nevertheless, the Sri Lankan batters did not get much time to settle, so enormous contributions were minimal. It is telling that, of the 11 batters, only three got to double digits – and of those, only one in Hasani Perera got to a score of 30.

It helped India as they got the skipper Chamari Athapattu early as well. Once she was gone, it made the chase harder for a Sri Lankan side lacking experience.

The win takes India to second on the points table, behind only Bangladesh, who are ahead on a superior net run rate, having hammered minnows Thailand.

India will next take on Malaysia in a group encounter on October 3 (Monday).