Pause and effect - Amanjot and Deepti change the script for India

A lot can happen after a pause.

On Tuesday afternoon, the silence at the ACA Stadium was deafening.

An overcast afternoon that began with a glowing, heartfelt, musical tribute to singer Zubeen Garg, who died 11 days ago, turned the mood among the record 22,843 that kept the mood at the venue sombre. And after the game started, India's World Cup dream received a jolt: Smriti Mandhana played out a maiden over and soon fell in the fourth over. Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol, both playing an ODI World Cup for the first time, didn't rattle away and India faced 61 dots in the first 15 overs. Flashbacks of another India home World Cup game against Sri Lanka.

The first pause came courtesy an hour-long drizzle.

It shortened the game to 48 overs a side (another short halt later reduced it to 47) and gave Rawal and Deol the chance to change gears.

India were 120 for 2 after 25, setting a decent platform. Then Inoka Ranaweera struck thrice in five balls to leave India at 121 for 5; Richa Ghosh fell in the next over to leave them at 124 for 6.

That brought Deepti Sharma and Amanjot Kaur, the latter on 50-over World Cup debut, together. It was all rather shaky for India.

Then came another pause - a short and expected one, the drinks interval.

India 129 for 6 in 29 overs, Deepti on 13 off 10, Amanjot 0 off 5. Something had to happen.

Amanjot is good at one-liners. There is this other thing that she is equally good, if not better, at - fighting her way out of adverse situations.

She was sidelined for a year with a stress injury and only returned to action ahead of WPL 2025. In the injured Pooja Vastrakar's absence, Amanjot was able to carry the allrounder's mantle for Mumbai Indians and continued in the same vein on the tour of England.

Five T20Is and an ODI later, she was missing again.

She had a few niggles and, in consultation with the coaches, rested herself to be fresh for the World Cup. Her first game upon return tested her. And brought out the best in her.

Despite the tricky situation India were in, Amanjot chose to attack and took on Sri Lanka's best bowler of the evening, Ranaweera, hitting her for fours in each of the next two overs. In no time, she had raced to her maiden ODI half-century in just 45 balls.

Sri Lanka dropped her thrice and she made them pay.

Later, Amanjot was one of only two seamers India played and she trapped Vishmi Gunaratne lbw. It was a great game for her - her rocket throws pinging wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh's gloves just added to the fun.

Deepti's first challenge was to see off Ranaweera's hat-trick ball. Despite being one of India's most valuable players across formats, her batting approach in such tricky situations has been in the spotlight. On Tuesday, she did not get bogged down under pressure. A quick single here, a sprint for a couple there, she kept the strike rotating and transferred pressure back on Sri Lanka.

For most of her innings, Deepti batted at a strike rate in excess of 100. She used the sweep to telling effect - each of her three fours came with that shot; she scored 20 off 11 with the sweep. In ODIs since 2024, 42% of Deepti's runs (158 out of 369) have been with the sweep. That is the best among batters with at least 200 runs against spin in this period (where ball-by-ball data is available).

Together, Deepti and Amanjot added 103 runs for the seventh wicket, and put India in the position they needed to be in.

Deepti's evening was not done. Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu, her team-mate at UP Warriorz, hit two sixes and two fours in Deepti's first two overs, which went for 23. In a stiff chase of 271, Sri Lanka needed Athapaththu to get a significant score. But Deepti won the duel, darting one through Athapaththu to all but douse Sri Lanka's challenge. Her three wickets took her to second among India's leading wicket-takers in ODIs in the process.

"It is said that a wounded lion takes a step back only to take a big leap forward…" Amanjot said, paused and laughed, speaking at the post-match press conference. "You people will make me famous just for my one-liners!"

With Amanjot, what you see is what you get. Her confidence often rubs off on others and covers up for her lack of experience, too. Her partnership with Deepti was the perfect fire-and-ice combo to combat and wriggle out of Sri Lanka's stranglehold. It was just the second century partnership for the seventh wicket or lower in ODI World Cups.

"Ultimately, you want a good score to defend," Amanjot said. "We can't play dots just because we are six down. I knew that Deepti was with me and we had to stitch a big partnership. I had to stay in the middle. The pitch was sticky, the ball was holding in the surface and there was turn on offer. The longer the two of us batted, we knew we could take India to a decent total and we did that."

This is what Amanjot was preparing for. And she did not want to turn up for the World Cup undercooked. "I did not have an injury but I felt my body needed a little rest," she said. "We did a few scans and I discussed with the coaches that I did not feel well while bowling. I did not want to play for India at 80-90%. I should be either at 100% or not play; I don't like such half-measures.

"I should be able to stop runs, and push with the bat and ball and contribute as an allrounder. Otherwise anyone can play in my place."

The pause in her career helped Amanjot return not only fit and fresh but also with greater clarity.

"It was the first game of the World Cup and looking at the hype and crowd, there were jitters," she said. "All that is normal, the more you play the more you get used to it. I played six [five] dot balls at the start. The Aman before rehab would have tried to hit the seventh ball in the air. But rehab has taught me patience and gratefulness - whatever you get is enough, you don't need more. God made me do as much as was necessary today and I did that."

That's what can happen after a pause.