Chasing 166 for victory, Sri Lanka were led by skipper Chamari Athapaththu's 43-ball 61 at the top, before Harshitha Samarawickrama and Kavisha Dilhari displayed incredible strokeplay and game awareness to take the match away from India and take Sri Lanka to a victory that could only be described as an upset given India's dominance over them and in the tournament.
In front of a jam-packed crowd at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dilhari played the winning stroke, lofting Pooja Vastrakar for six down the ground to finish the game with eight wickets and eight balls remaining. Naturally, the Sri Lankan squad came sprinting out from the dugout to celebrate what is one of the biggest achievements in the history of Sri Lankan women's cricket.
Sri Lanka thrashed India by 8 wickets to secure their first women's Asia Cup title 🏆
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) July 28, 2024
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A tight bowling performance on a flat wicket
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka had restricted India to 165-6 on a relatively flat surface. Smriti Mandhana top-scored for India with 60 off 47 before Jemimah Rodrigues (29 off 16) and Richa Ghosh (30 off 14) applied the finishing touches.
However, regular wickets meant India could not touch 180 and take the game beyond Sri Lanka. Dilhari was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2-46 from her four overs. Udeshika Prabodhani, Sachini Nisansala, and Athapaththu chipped in with a wicket each.
Also read: Asia Cup will be keenly contested this year, and that is good for India
Batting out of their skins
Samarawickrama's assault from No.3 came as a surprise to India. She came into the game with a career strike rate of 93.66 in the format, before taking down the bowlers with precision, striking six fours and two sixes at a strike rate of 135.29. Similarly, Dilhari, with a career strike rate of 101.28, took India by surprise, striking at 187.50 in the final.
At one stage, Sri Lanka needed 67 from seven overs. It is from there that the tide began to turn. The next few overs brought 14, 10, nine, nine, and 17 to bring the equation down to eight from two overs.
It was only a matter of time after that as Dilhari played an exquisite lofted on-drive to seal the game and send the loud Dambulla crowd into delirium.
India had won the tournament seven out of eight times before this year, ith Bangladesh being the only other team to have won it. Today (July 28), Sri Lanka entered the club of women's Asia Cup winners as well.
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