India retain Asian Games gold as Sri Lanka are bowled out for 69 in the final

India retained their Asian Games women’s cricket title in Nisshin, bowling Sri Lanka out for 69 to win the gold-medal match by 147 runs

India won the toss at Korogi Sports Park on Tuesday, chose to bat, and never gave the final away. Their 216 for 3 from 20 overs is the highest total women’s cricket has produced at an Asian Games, and Sri Lanka were dismissed for 69 inside 16 overs in reply.

The margin of 147 runs is the largest by which India have won a women’s T20 international, and it keeps the gold medal they won in Hangzhou in 2023.

Deepti Sharma was the outstanding bowler with 3-6 from her four overs, one of them a maiden. Sri Lanka took silver, and Pakistan had already secured bronze earlier in the day.

A total built on the opening stand

Smriti Mandhana made 79 from 45 balls with seven sixes and five fours, clearing the ropes repeatedly against Sri Lanka’s spinners.

She and Shafali Verma put on 99 for the first wicket. Verma made 48 from 29 balls before falling to a reverse sweep, by which time the target was already beyond a side that had not chased anything like it all tournament.

Harmanpreet Kaur added 19 from 17 balls in the middle order, keeping the rate moving rather than rebuilding.

Richa Ghosh then closed the innings with 49 not out from 22 balls, six fours and three sixes, carrying India past 200 in the final over. India struck 18 fours and 13 sixes in all.

Sri Lanka lose their way in the chase

Set 217, Sri Lanka needed a long stand and never found one. Chamari Athapaththu made 29 from 21 balls with five fours and was the only batter to pass 20.

Deepti Sharma’s 3-6 was the pick of the figures, but the wickets were shared. Verma took 2-3 from two overs of off spin, Shree Charani 2-13 from four, and Shreyanka Patil 2-9 from 1.4 overs to end it.

The innings lasted 15.4 overs. Sri Lanka’s batting had carried them this far — Athapaththu made an unbeaten 83 against Pakistan in the semi-final — and it deserted them on the day it was needed most.

A second gold in succession

Cricket’s place on the Asian Games programme has now given India’s women two titles from two attempts, the first in Hangzhou three years ago and now at Aichi-Nagoya.

It was also India’s first gold medal of these Games, and it came on the opening weekend of the cricket competition.

“We are feeling very good, everyone is happy because this is what we wanted,” wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh said afterwards. “Since we started our journey for the Asian Games, our one focus was to win gold and raise the India flag as high as we can, make India proud.”

Another mark for Mandhana

Mandhana’s innings took her past 11,000 international runs, the first woman to reach the figure across the three formats.

It follows a week in which she also became the leading run-scorer in women’s T20 internationals, and a tournament in which India’s top order was rarely troubled.

Her 79 was the highest individual score of the final, and it came at better than a run a ball from the first over onwards.

Where the medals went

Sri Lanka, who beat Pakistan to reach the final, took silver for the second Asian Games running.

Pakistan won bronze earlier on Tuesday, beating Bangladesh by 31 runs with captain Fatima Sana making 45 from 30 balls. It was their first Asian Games cricket medal in 12 years.

Scorecard: India Women 216 for 3 (Mandhana 79, Ghosh 49*, Verma 48) beat Sri Lanka Women 69 (Athapaththu 29; Deepti Sharma 3-6, Shree Charani 2-13) by 147 runs.

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