Asia Cup: Indian women beat Sri Lanka, wins 7th title

Sylhet/ Bangladesh: Indian women won their seventh Asia Cup T20 cricket title smashing Sri Lanka (SL) like anything after winning the final of the tournament for eight wickets at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

Indian spinners, who monetised the pitch which favoured them with little bounce and a good turn, along with pacer Renuka Thakur, tied SL, who won the toss and chose to bat first, to 65/9 in 20 overs while Indian batter Smriti Mandhana smashed a 51 from 25 balls and stood not out to win the match for women in blue. Smriti roared with six boundaries and three over-the-fences and finished the chase in 8.3 overs.

In the first innings, SL had a terrible start after opener cum skipper Chamari Athapaththu fell into a run-out trap in the third over. In the next over, Harshitha Madavi and Hasini Perera were sent back to the gallery by Renuka, while Anushka Sanjeevani also fell in a run-out.

Then Renuka bowled Kavisha Dilhari, and SL reached 16/5 in the powerplay. Then Rajeshwari and Sneh took the four more together, and SL reached 65 somehow, though only Inoka Ranaweera (18 not out) and Oshadi Ranasinghe (13) reached double figures.

Smriti started the chase by driving Sugandika Kumari extra cover off. She played some admirable shots before lifting Inoka over the fences. However, when Shefali Verma tried the same, she failed and got stumped.

Jemimah Rodrigues, who took strike after Shefali, was also restless. She tried for a biggy and got bowled. But the fall of back-to-back wickets did not affect Smriti. She found boundaries through gaps and over fielders without failure. The bowling pitch also did not seem to affect her.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 65/9 in 20 overs (Inoka Ranaweera 18 not out, Oshadi Ranasinghe 13; Renuka Thakur 3/5, Sneh Rana 2/13) lost to India 71/2 in 8.3 overs (Smriti Mandhana 51 not out, Harmanpreet Kaur 11 not out; Inoka Ranaweera 1/17, Kavisha Dilhari 1/17) by eight wickets.