DAMBULLA: Captain Chamari Athapaththu’s blistering fifty combined well with the solid half-century of Harshitha Samarawickrama as Sri Lanka carved an eight-wicket win over defending champions India to bag their maiden Women’s T20 Asia Cup title on Sunday. This is the second time in nine Asia Cup editions across formats that India have lost a final.

Chasing a challenging total of 166, Sri Lanka were driven well by Athapaththu and Sama­rawickrama and finished at 167-2 in 18.4 overs.

Athapaththu and Samarawickrama added 87 runs, helping the hosts stay ahead of their opponents throughout the chase.

Athapaththu brought up her fifty in 33 balls, and Samarawickrama went past the mark in 43 balls, both with their own distinctive approaches. While Athapaththu scored through almost every reachable place on the field, Samarawickrama clearly lacked the power of her senior but she was clever with placements.

The latter, however, picked up the tempo when Sri Lanka reached a rather safer zone, muscling a slog-swept six before Athapaththu was bowled around her legs.

But then Samarawickrama found an able sidekick in Kavisha Dilhari as the duo added 73 runs off just 40 balls for the unbeaten third wicket to guide their side home.

Earlier, the Sri Lankan bowlers stifled a set of free-flowing India batters.

Smriti Mandhana’s half-century had powered India to a fighting 165-6 and she received reasonable backing from Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh.

But largely it was a tight contest for them against a plethora of the Sri Lanka spinners.

Mandhana brought up her fifty in 36 balls. and put up 41 runs off 25 balls for the fourth wicket with Rodrigues.

However, the run out of Rodrigues and the dismissal of Mandhana pushed India to 133-5 in 16.5 overs before Richa Ghosh, in the company of Pooja Vastrakar, milked 31 runs for the sixth wicket that carried India past the 160-run mark.

Scores in brief:

INDIA 165-6 (S. Mandhana 60, R. Ghosh 30; K. Dilhari 2-36) SRI LANKA (H. Samarawickrama 69 not out, C. Athapaththu 61; D. Sharma 1-30).

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2024