Women’s Asia Cup: All-round India thrash Sri Lanka by eight wickets to win seventh continental title

India produced a dominant all-round show against Sri Lanka, hammering them by eight wickets in the Women’s Asia Cup Final in Sylhet on Saturday to be crowned continental champions for a seventh time.

India pacer Renuka Singh breathed fire in the summit clash, her destructive spell of 3/5 from three overs along with vital contributions from spinners Sneh Rana (2/13) and Rajeshwari Gayakwad (2/16) restricting the Chamari Athapaththu-led side to a paltry 65/9 after the Lankans won the toss and opted to bat.

In-form opener Smriti Mandhana then led the way with the bat, smashing an unbeaten 51 off just 25 deliveries as the ‘Women in Blue’ chased down the 66-run target with 69 balls remaining to cap off a perfect day in office. Mandhana reached her milestone with a four and a six off Oshadi Ranasinghe, the latter sealing the game in India’s favour.

The Women in Blue got off to a perfect start with a 32-run opening stand between Mandhana and Shafali Verma, but hit a roadblock of sorts with the quick dismissals of Verma (5) and Jemimah Rodrigues (2). Mandhana and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur then ensured there were no further hiccups as they got the side home with an unbroken 36-run third-wicket stand.

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