New Delhi: Jemimah Rodrigues top scored with an unbeaten 69 but it was the bowlers who set up Indian women’s eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in their five-match T20I series opener in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

India won the toss and opted to bowl, a decision their bowlers justified as Sri Lanka were restricted to a modest 121 for six at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.

Rodrigues’ 44-ball knock with 10 boundaries then took them past the finish line in 14.4 overs as Smriti Mandhana made 25 and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was unbeaten on 15.

Mandhana rose to second with 4007 runs behind New Zealand’s Suzie Bates (4716) in the leading scorers’ list in women’s T20Is.

Earlier, the home side put up a very disciplined bowling effort to restrict Sri Lanka to 121 for six as their batters couldn’t capitalise on the loose deliveries.

For the tourists, opener Vishmi Gunaratne’s 43-ball 39 was the top score while Hasini Perera and Harshitha Samarawickrama contributed 20 and 21, respectively.

Skipper Chamari Athapaththu (15) began on a positive note, clipping Kranti Gaud delivery off her pads for a boundary.

Gaud came around the wicket seeing Athapaththu’s aggressive approach and was rewarded as the change of angle worked, the left hander getting bowled through the gate.

The Lankans reached 31 for one at the end of powerplays Deepti Sharma (1/20) began wth a maiden over.

Vaishnavi Sharma (0/16) was tidy on debut and could have got her maiden international wicket had Shree Charani held on to Charani’s straightforward catch at short fine leg.

As Sri Lanka struggled to score quickly, Hasini tried to up the ante and departed reverse sweeping the ball to Gaud at short third off Deepti.

Dew set in to make it difficult for the Indian bowlers to grip the ball but they pegged Lanka to 55 for two in the first 10 overs.