Sri Lanka beat India to turn their luck around in the Women’s Asia Cup finals against the Women in Blue to clinch their maiden title in the continental tournament. Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama smashed fifties to make short work of a 166-run chase.
Sri Lanka clinched their maiden Women’s Asia Cup title after beating the seven-time champions India in the final on Sunday, July 28 in Dambulla. Sri Lanka overcame used surface, mental pressure, expectations and a strong Indian team to chase down 166 runs in the summit clash rather comfortably with eight balls to spare. Skipper Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama starred with half-centuries as India’s poor fielding cost them once again.
This was India’s first-ever loss to Sri Lanka in a Women’s Asia Cup match and what a game and occasion for the hosts to do it against the seven-time champions. Sri Lanka have been runners-up five times in the Women’s Asia Cup, four times in the ODI format and once in T20s and lost all those finals against India.
Apart from the run-out in the second over, nothing went right for India in the field. Dropped catches, missed chances and poor ground fielding, it was all on the show for India. For the first five overs, it seemed like the Indian bowlers had a stranglehold over the Sri Lankan team before the floodgates opened in the final over of the powerplay with Athapaththu hitting 16 off Tanuja Kanwer.
The next four overs yielded 36 runs with no wickets lost and Sri Lanka were in the driver’s seat chasing the 166-run target. Athapaththu and Harshitha Madhavi both kept punishing anything loose from the Indian bowlers and the lacklustre fielding didn’t help their cause.
India did get the wicket of Sri Lankan skipper Athapaththu with Deepti Sharma cleaning her up after the former had completed her fifty. However, Harshitha played out the rest of the deliveries with maturity alongside Kavisha Dilhari to take her side to win as India couldn’t take any more wickets after getting Athapaththu out.
Earlier, it was Smriti Mandhana, who stabilised India’s innings with a 47-ball 60 before Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh with their quickfire cameos got their side to a score in excess of 160. On a used wicket, with the bowling line-up they have, India would have fancied their chances to defend the target and win the Asia Cup, however, it wasn’t to be as Sri Lanka dared to dream and broke the streak of losing in the finals.
Bhathiya Barukanda
