Sri Lanka won the Women’s Asia Cup for the first time ever as they beat 7 time winners India by 8 wickets. Half-centuries from Chamari Athapaththu and Harshita Samarawickrama meant that the home team wont the final with 8 wickets and 8 balls to spare.
Batting first, India had scored 165/8 from their 20 overs. It was a decent performance from the Women in Blue, thanks to Smriti Mandhana, who had scored a terrific fifty. None of the other batters could chip in despite getting a start.
It was India who won the toss and chose to bat first as a packed crowd came to watch the game. By the end of the match, the Sri Lankan fans and the team were seen jumping in joy.
Sri Lanka claim their first ever Asia Cup title
Opting to bat first, India lost opener Shafali Varma for 16 runs from 19 balls. Uma Chetry was out to Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu for 9 and Harmanpreet Kaur fell for 11 to Sachini Nisansala.
Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodriguez added 41 runs for the 4th wicket in 4.1 overs to take the attack back to the Sri Lankan bowlers. One run out changed the game as Jemimah Rodrigues was out for 29 runs off just 16 balls.
Smriti Mandhana was out after scoring 60 runs from 47 balls when she fell to Kavisha Dilhari. Richa Ghosh then gave the Indian side the much needed flourish at the end of the innings as she scored 30 off just 14 balls with four boundaries and a six.
Chasing 166 to win, Sri Lanka lost the wicket of Vimshi Gunaratne for 1 in the 2nd over of the innings. From there, Chamari Athapaththu and Harshita Samarawickrama added 87 runs for the second wicket in 62 balls.
Both the batters made use of some bad fielding from India which also included dropped catches and some poor show in the out field. Deepti Sharma got India back into the game when she got the wicket of Athapaththu for 61 off 43 balls.
The Sri Lankan side though didn’t let India come back into the contest as they coasted home to an easy win. Kavisha Dilhari was the hero with the bat as she smashed Pooja Vastrakar for a huge six to signal the win for her team.
Here’s how the fans reacted
While everyone was busy celebrating the Olympic medal win, the Indian women's team bottled asia cup finals with pathetic fielding efforts. #IndiavsSrilanka #WomensAsiaCup2024 #SLvsIND
— Ganesh Naidu007 (@dhoni7_7) July 28, 2024
Speechless. Emotional. Chamari built a team of young girls who could back a punch. You may compare her to past legends but someday in the future a youngster will be compared to her! Absolute Queen! ❤️👑#WomensAsiaCup #WomensAsiaCup2024
— 𝕏LOKE 🇱🇰 (@aaaaaloke) July 28, 2024
Time for @ImHarmanpreet to retire now!! Worst captaincy, easy drops, lacklustre!! #WomensAsiaCup2024
— Nitin Malkan (@nitinmalkan08) July 28, 2024
Catches win you matches
— V.D.Virat (@Vd26012002) July 28, 2024
Drop catches cause you heart break
Srilanka just needed 8 off 12
It's an easy win for srilanka
India lost the #WomensAsiaCup2024 #AsiaCup2024
World class inning from Harshitha Samarawickrema. 🔥 #SLvsIND #WomensAsiaCup2024
— ⚡ Bee⚡ (@Bee_Hi123) July 28, 2024
Congratulations to Well deserved winner of #WomensAsiaCup2024 Srilanka Women 👏 their progress in last one year has been rapid . #INDWvsSLW
— CRICKET GEEK (@CRICKETGEEK88) July 28, 2024