Sri Lanka secure their first medal with silver in Asian Games Cricket Final

Yet another India Vs Sri Lanka final took place at the Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket Field in Hangzhou, which would decide the ultimate champions of the Asian Games Women's Cricket Competition. This is also the best performance by the Sri Lankan Women's team after they emerged 3rd Place in the 2018 Asian games and another achievement to cap off an excellent year following series wins against New Zealand and England.

 

It was indeed an important toss to win, as the pitch saw some spin earlier in the day in the 3rd place match between Pakistan Women and Bangladesh Women which would mean that the team batting second would find it rather difficult to score runs. Although it is interesting to know that, both the semi finals and the third place match was won by the side chasing. However, it was Harmanpreet Kaur who won the toss and decided that India will bat first.

 

It was Mandhana and Verma to open the batting for India with Sri Lanka starting proceedings with the ball using the spin of Oshadi Ranasinghe. The openers got to a decent start before the slow left arm orthodox Sugandika Kumari grabbed the wicket of Verma with some beautiful work behind the stumps by Sanjeewani to send the Indian opener back to the dressing room. Rodriguez, the next to come to the crease, put on a partnership of 73 runs along with Mandhana. Unfortunately Mandhana had to depart for a well made 46 runs, off the bowling of Ranaweera to break the 67 ball partnership which was troubling the Sri Lankan team.

 

India brought up 100 runs for the loss of 2 wickets at the end of the 16th over with Ghosh in the crease as India looked to accelerate the run scoring to put on a formidable total. However, tight length and lines kept by the Sri Lanka women saw wickets tumbling frequently and India managed to only score 27 runs for the loss of 5 wickets during the last 5 overs, which saw them end up with 116 runs for the loss of 7 wickets at the end of their allotted 20 overs.

 

Udeshika Prabodhani, Sugandika Kumari and Inoka Ranaweera grabbed 2 wickets each while Smriti Mandhana top scored for the Indian side scoring 46 runs with Jemimah Rodrigues scoring 42 runs as well.

 

A large number of hopes and aspirations rested on the shoulders of the Sri Lanka openers to get them to a good start,  to chase 117 runs to be crowned champions of Asian Games Women's Cricket Competition. Athapaththu opening the batting for Sri Lanka alongside Sanjeewani cracked a six and four within the first over itself, however, the Indian bowlers were right up to their mark, with some tight bowling by Titas Sadhu saw two quick wickets fall and Sri Lanka crumble to 15 runs for the loss of 3 wickets at the end of 5 overs. 

 

Hasini Perera and Nilakshi de Silva steadied the ship for Sri Lanka by putting on a 36 run partnership off 33 balls to bring up 50 runs for Sri Lanka in the 9th over, but right after Rajeshwari Gayakwad clinched the wicket of Perera to break the all important partnership. Oshadi Ranasinghe joined de Silva, as Sri Lanka required a further 67 runs from the final 10 overs. 

 

Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya along with Pooja Vastrakar kept Sri Lanka at bay with some good lines and lengths which mounted the pressure on the batting team. Oshadi Ranasinghe kept the fight going against India however, she perished in the 17th over when Sri Lanka required a further 30 runs from 12 balls. Sri Lanka tried their best to score some quick runs but the bowling by the Indian women were superior which allowed them to only score 97 runs for the loss of 8 wickets at the end of the alloted 20 overs.

 

Titas Sadhu was the pick of the bowlers with an economy rate of 1.5 along with 3 wickets to her name while Hasini Perera and Nilakshi de Silva got onto a good start but failed to capitalise afterwards.

 

India go on to be crowned champions and clinch the gold medal at the Asian Games Women's Cricket Competition.

 

Sri Lanka grab the silver medal and achieve their first medal of the Asian Games. We congratulate both teams for the splendid performance and wish them all the very best in the future as well.