Captain Chamari Athapaththu’s turbo-charged fifty combined well with the steadfast half-century of Harshitha Samarawickrama as a resilient Sri Lanka carved an eight-wicket win over defending champions India to bag their maiden women’s Asia Cup title in Dambulla on Sunday. (As It Happened | More Cricket News)
This is the second time in nine Asia Cup editions (WODI and WT20I) across formats that India have lost a final. The last time India lost the final was against Bangladesh in🤪 📖2018 in Kuala Lumpur.
Tasked with hunting down a strong target of 166, Sri Lanka served well by Athapa🌞ththu (61b, 43b, 9x4, 2x6) and Samarawickrama ෴(69 not out, 51b, 6x4, 2x6) and finished at 167 for two in 18.4 overs.
Athapaththu and Sam♏arဣawickrama added 87 runs as the Lankans always stayed ahead of their opponents.
The stand for t🅺he second wicket was also of contrast as Sౠamarawickra was the yin to the yang of her aggressive leader.
Athapaththu fetched her fifty in 33 baꦗlls, and Samarawickrama went past her mark in 43 balls and their shot selection too was vastly differing.
Athapaththu scored through almost every reachable place on the field, and her assaul🍰t on left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar, who she biffed for two fours and six in her first over, was stunning.
But at the other end, Samarawickrama clearly lacked the power of her senior but she offset that with clever placings, such as reverse sweeps off left-arm spinners Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav.
But she picked up the tempo when Sri Lanka reached a rather safer zone, musc🤪ling a slog-swept six off Yadav ov𒅌er mid-wicket.
In between, Deepti managed to bowl Athapaththu around her legs with a fuller delivery that sparked cel✱ebrations among the Indians, who till then looked lethargic on the field.
But those merriments were premature as Samarawickrama found an able sidekick in Kavisha Dilhari ꦜ(30 not out, 16b, 1x4, 2x6) as the duo added 73 runs off ju𒁃st 40 balls for the unbeaten third wicket to guide their side home.
But an equal share of the credit should go to the Lankan bowlers as well for stifling a set of free-flowing India battersꦛ.
Smriti Mandhana’s conditions-defying half-century (60, 47b, 10x4) had powered India to a fighting 165 for six and she received reasonable backing from Jemimah Rodrigues (29, 16 balls, 3x4, ﷺ1x6) and Richa Ghosh (30, 14 balls, 4x4, 1x6).
But largely it was a tight contest for🃏 them against a plethora of Lankan spinners.
In fact, the home side included only one pacer in their ranks –𝐆 Udeshika Prabodhani and the rest were slow bowlers.
The Lanka bowlers indeed✅ made good use of a slow pi𓄧tch as well, leaving the Indian batters a frustrated lot often.
It was evident from the struggles of Shafali Verma (16, 19 balls), who found it difficult to time her shot🌼s.
Mandhana had a massive slice of fortune when 💜she was on 10 as her weak chip-off spinner Dilhari (2/36) was put down at covers by Samarawickrama.
The left-hander made the hosts pay for that mistake withꦕ some gorgeous shots, especially against Prabodhani whom she carted for three fours in the sixth over as India r♐eached 44 for no loss.
But Ver🎐ma soon fell leg before to Dilhari after getting pinged on her pads while trying a tweak to the on-side.
As the Power Play came to an end, Mandhana had to resort to some improvis🦂ations such as scoops behind the stumper to get her boundaries.
The Indian vice-captain, who brought up her fifty in 36 balls, also often had to make༺ room for herself or shuffle across the stumps to find the ropes because the b🥀all was not exactly coming onto her bat.
While Mandhana managed to beat the slowness of the deck, it consumed Harmanpreet and Umꦕa Chetry,🌟 who got a promotion to No. 3.
At 87 for three in the 12th over, India needed a move-on and it was given by an aggressive Rodrigues in the ♈company of Mandhana, making 4♕1 runs off 25 balls for the fourth wicket.
However, the run ouꦺt of Rodrigues and the dismissal of Mandhana pushed India to 133 for five in 16.5 overs.
Ghosh played a typical swift innings that contained a massiv▨e slog-swept six off Dilhari over the mid-wicket.
In the company of Pooja Vastrakar, Ghosh milked 31 runs for the sixth wicket that carried Indiওa past the 160-run mark.
