Women's World Twenty20: Mithali Raj's Indians take on Sri Lanka today

Indian women kick off their World T20 campaign against Sri Lanka in Group B with the confidence of having gained invaluable experience in the two warm-up matches.

Having had enough time to acclimatise to the conditions, the Mithali Raj-led Indian women hold the edge against the Sri Lankans when they meet each other in Sylhet on Monday.

The 31-year-old Mithali holds the key to Indian women's success as she has been among runs leading up to the tournament besides being the most experienced player in the side.

Before the World T20, India reached Bangladesh two weeks ago, playing a bilateral T20 series against the hosts, winning them comfortably 2-0. Though Mithali was not required to bat. However, in the two warm-up matches against New Zealand and Ireland, Mithali opened the innings and scored 53* and 42, respectively.

Besides Mithali, the Indian women's batting are in able hands of Poonam Raut, Harmanpreet Kaur and wicket-keeper Karuna Jain.

The bowling will rest on former captain and experienced Jhulan Goswami and her new ball partner Shikha Pandey.

Sri Lanka, though, cannot be taken lightly as they enter the tournament proper with a win and a loss in the practice matches.

Playing today (Group B):
England vs West Indies, 3pm
India vs Sri Lanka, 7pm, both in Sylhet

Sunday's brief scores (Group A):
New Zealand women 128/8 in 20 overs (F Mackay 25, K Perkins 31, N Browne 29; J Jonassen 2/22, S Coyte 2/8) bt Australia women 121 in 19.3 overs (A Healy 41, A Blackwell 31; H Hudleston 2/23)