India-W crowned as champions of Asia
The Indian women lit up Dubai with their clinical brand of domination as they outmuscled Sri Lanka in the grand finale to secure their eighth ACC Women’s Asia Cup.
Not only did they thump Sri Lanka in ruthless fashion but they completed their quest for vengeance after being drubbed by the same foe in the previous edition of the tournament.
Winning the toss, India opted to bat first. They had one change to side with Pratika Rawal being replaced by an incoming Gunalan Kamalini who saved the best for the last.
Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma hunkered down to business from the very outset and the Sri Lankan bowlers were caught completely off-guard, owing to the double trouble inflicted by the Indian openers.
Mandhana and Verma added 129 runs for the opening wicket from just 77 balls, underlining India’s hunt for the silverware. Mandhana smashed 59 off just 39 balls, rocking five fours and three sixes while Verma clobbered a 39-ball-68, a knock that featured nine fours and two sixes.
Verma was the first one to fall as Hewa Prabodha managed to get the first breakthrough while Mandhana was run out by Kavisha Dilhari as India were dealt a double whammy, setting in fears of a potential collapse.
Harmanpreet Kaur (14) and Richa Ghosh (17) steadied the ship for the Women in Blue before Gunalan Kamalini walked out to bat and smashed an unbeaten15 off five balls to propel India to 183/5.
Kranti Gaud was quick to strike, pushing Sri Lanka back. Gaud removed Imesha Dulani (4) to apply an early brake to the scoring rate of the defending champions. Chamari Athapaththu (36) and Vishmi Gunaratne (20) came together to knit together an important stand of 58 runs for the second wicket.
However, the scoring rate remained a concern and the Indian bowlers were quick to identify the opportunity and make way for themselves.
Deepti Sharma’s double whammy sent Sri Lanka nosediving into an unchecked spiral. Sharma removed Athapaththu and Gunaratne in short succession as the Indian bowlers were quick to storm through the gates. Sree Charani joined the act by removing Harshitha Samarawickrama (9), Kavisha Dilhari (7) and Nilakshi de Silva (22), pushing the Lankans to the edge.
The remainder of the Lankan resistance was wiped out quickly as India bundled out Sri Lanka for 111, securing a staggering win by 72 runs.
Sree Charani was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/20 while Deepti Sharma followed with a haul of three wickets.
Shafali Verma bagged the Player of the Match award for her all-round performance while she was also awarded the Player of the Series for her haul of 236 runs and two wickets.
