Asian Games 2023: Historic gold for Indian women's cricket team

Hangzhou: The Indian women’s cricket team defeated Sri Lanka Women in the final to win their maiden gold medal at the Asian Games. This is India’s second gold medal of Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, the People’s Republic of China.

India won the toss and decided to bat first. Despite losing Shafali Verma early on, Smriti Mandhana (46 off 45 balls) and Jemimah Rodrigues (42 off 40 balls) set the tone for the innings. The pair added a crucial 73-run partnership for the second wicket.

India lost their way in the death overs after Mandhana’s dismissal, adding only 16 runs to the total in the last four overs. They finished with 116/7 in 20 overs. For the Sri Lankan bowling attack, Udeshika Prabodhani, Sugandika Kumari and Inoka Ranaweera picked up two wickets each.

After the break, India’s Titas Sadhu broke the back of the run chase with a double-wicket maiden in her first over. She later dismissed captain Chamari Athapaththu as well, reducing Sri Lanka to 15/3 in five overs. Hasini Perera and Nilakshi de Silva tried to bring Sri Lanka back in the game with a 36-run stand, but they couldn’t keep up with the required rate. Rajeshwari Gayakwad (2/20) broke this partnership and India managed to see the game through comfortably.

The bowling unit restricted Sri Lanka to 97/8 in 20 overs as India won by 19 runs.

Earlier, Harmanpreet's decision to bat first was a correct one as the pitch, which wasn't conducive for stroke-play, only got slower as the match progressed.

On a track like this, it becomes a challenge to force the pace against slow bowlers and the Sri Lankan team comprised way too many such operators in its ranks.