Asian Games: India women clinch cricket gold, beat SL by 19 runs in final

India women, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, won the gold in Asian Games cricket, beating Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the final. Batting first, India women scored 116/7 on a slow and turning pitch but Titas Sadhu's three wickets for six runs in four overs helped them defend the target.

India's start was a modest one after winning the toss with Shafali Varma getting out cheaply in the fourth over for a team total of 16 runs. Smriti Mandhana (46) Jemimah Rodrigues (42) added 73 runs for the second wicket to put India's innings on track on a difficult pitch. After Mandhana's fall in the 15th over, Indian innings lost a bit of steam as they lost quick wickets with four in last four overs.

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The Women in Blue finally managed 116/7 in their 20 overs as no other batter apart from Mandhana and Rodrigues could score in double figures. For Sri Lanka, Udeshika Prabodhani, Sugandika Kumari and Inoka Ranaweera took two wickets each.

Chasing 117, Sri Lanka scored 12 off the first over but they met Titas Sadhu in the third over who bowled a double-wicket maiden to dent their chase. Sadhu took one more wicket in her next over and gave away just one run. Hasini Perera and Nilakshi de Silva then tried to stable the innings with a 36-run partnership but Pooja Vastrakar got Perera out.

Oshadi Ranasinghe then held one hand as she and de Silva wiped off another 28 runs of the target as Sri Lanka needed 38 runs off last four overs. Indian bowlers then kept the pressure on and took three more wickets to leave Sri Lankan chase in tatters.

The Island nation could only manage 97 runs in the end for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs as India won the game and the gold.

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