India sweep aside Sri Lanka to win women’s Asia Cup

India complete eight-wicket win in the final after restricting the Islanders to 65/9 at Sylhet, Bangladesh. It is India’s seventh victory in eight tournaments

It is not often that one gets to see the Indian women’s cricket team winning a championship title and taking a victory lap. Mostly they have fallen at the final hurdle in the finals of global events. Even their last Asia Cup final outing was disappointing as they lost to Bangladesh.

India defeated Sri Lanka in the Women's Asia Cup final. (Twitter)

But on Saturday, the tournament favourites tasted success, winning the Asia Cup final in Bangladesh for the seventh time in eight attempts, after beating Sri Lanka by eight wickets. The most attractive sight was the victory lap the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team took acknowledging the sizeable crowd that had turned up at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

Exuding confidence, the Indian team capped its consistency and carried forward momentum from the 3-0 ODI series win in England to Sylhet. They stamped their authority over Sri Lanka as it proved a one-sided affair. It took just 36 minutes for India to chase down the target after restricting Sri Lanka to 65/9. India raced to 71/2 in 8.3 overs to seal the T20 tournament.

Sri Lanka were no match for India. Once their captain Chamari Athapaththu was back in the pavilion after being run out, the batting line-up crumbled. Riding on her in-winging deliveries, medium-pacer Renuka Thakur was on fire for India. She ran through the opposition top-order, taking three important wickets. In her three overs, Renuka claimed three wickets giving away just five runs, not to forget a maiden over.

“I am very happy because in the last few games I did not bowl well. I worked hard with the coach and it worked. I did not try anything different and just focused on my basics. My entire team supports me, including the captain and coach,” Thakur, the player of the final, said.

For Sri Lanka, Inoka Ranaweera’s 18 was the highest score. Their 65/9 is the lowest total by a side batting first and playing out the full 20 overs in a women's tournament final. India spinners Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gayakwad also bowled well to take two wickets each.

Throughout the tournament, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma hogged limelight while Renuka and Smriti Mandhana stole the show in the final. Smriti Mandhana, the left-handed opener, scored an unbeaten half-century on way to the convincing win. The India vice-captain made a scintillating 25-ball 51 not out to signing off on a high after Shafali Verma (5) and Jemimah (2) did not fire in the final.

India’s only blemish in the tournament came after their reshuffled side lost to Pakistan.

Harmanpreet Kaur said after the game: “We should credit our bowlers. Our fielding unit was good from ball one and we discussed that we should not give away easy runs. You have to read the wicket and accordingly place fielders in the right positions. We read the wicket well and positioned fielders accordingly. We were not looking at the scoreboard but only decided our five-over targets. We never bothered what the total was on the board and batted accordingly.”

The Asia Cup victory, though in a weak field, comes after winning the ODI series in England after claiming silver in the final of the T20 Commonwealth Games competition. These performances have kept Indian women’s cricket in the limelight and will only build up nicely for next year’s inaugural women’s IPL.

It will also bolster India’s confidence ahead of the T20 World Cup to be played in South Africa next February.