Overview

• India, ranked No. 3, begin their home campaign at Barsapara Stadium at 3 pm IST, with about 90% of tickets sold and 5,000 free seats set aside for Garg’s fans.
• Smriti Mandhana leads a confident batting unit with four ODI hundreds this year, as captain Harmanpreet Kaur plays her fifth World Cup and India look to end a 47-year title wait.
• Concerns linger over India’s inexperienced pace group despite Renuka Singh’s return, after warm-up injuries to Arundhati Reddy and an earlier scare for Amanjot Kaur.
• The eight-team event features 28 round-robin matches across Indian venues and Colombo, offering a record USD 13.88 million prize pool, with Pakistan’s league fixtures designated for Colombo.
• Sri Lanka return after missing 2022, led by Chamari Athapaththu and rising all-rounder Dewmi Vihanga, against a side that has beaten them in 31 of 35 Women’s ODIs.