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India completely dominated the final match of the Women’s Asia Cup 2022 as they first restricted Sri Lanka to a small total of 65/9 in 20 overs, before Smriti Mandhana smashed an unbeaten 51 off 25 balls to help India clinch their seventh Women’s Asia Cup title at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Sri Lanka’s first innings score of 65/9 is the lowest total by a side batting first while playing the full quota of 20 overs in a women’s tournament final. India chased down the target in just 8.3 overs with 69 balls to spare which is another record in a women’s T20I match.
After electing to bat first, Sri Lanka had a poor start as captain Chamari Athapaththu ran herself out for a non-existent single in the third over. In the next over, Renuka Singh dismissed Harshitha Madavi and Hasini Perera apart from another horrible run-out of Anushka Sanjeevani.
Renuka bowled Kavisha Dilhari to take her third wicket in the final over of the powerplay to leave Sri Lanka at 16/5 in power-play. Renuka finished her spell with figures of 3 for 5 while she also contributed in the run-out of the captain Chamari Athapaththu. After the power-play, Indian spinners took charge as Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Sneh Rana took two wickets each.
Only Inoka Ranaweera who top scored with an unbeaten 18 and Oshadi Ranasinghe with 13 could reach double figures for Sri Lanka in a disappointing batting show. No.11 batter Achini Kulasuriya also stayed unbeaten on 6 to help them avoid getting all-out. In the last overs, Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh had asked fielders to surround the batters by standing in close catching positions, with only two or three fielders outside the 30-yard circle at the boundary.
Indian pacer Renuka Thakur shined with 3/5 in three overs on a pitch which was tailor-made for spinners as the ball kept low and turned square, while Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Sneh Rana ended with figures of 2/16 and 2/13 respectively. Apart from them, off-spinner Deepti Sharma conceded just seven runs in her four overs to restrict Sri Lanka to a small total of 65/9.
Chasing a small target of 66, India’s left-hander Smriti Mandhana began with a four in the second over by using her feet and driving the ball through extra cove off left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari. In the next over, She again used her feet and stepped down the pitch to play a beautiful inside-out shot over extra cover for a six off Oshadi bowling round the wicket and then followed it up with a pull through square leg off a poor ball bowled down the leg asking to be hit.
On the first ball of the fourth over, Smriti stepped out of the crease to get to the pitch of the ball and lofted Inoka for another clean six over long-on. But when Shafali Verma tried to do the same, she was stumped easily as she was nowhere near the pitch of the ball and got beaten by the ball turning away from her.
In the next over, Jemimah Rodrigues who came to bat at No.3, stepped out of the crease to go over the top but the ball from off-spinner Kavisha Dilhari kept a bit low and went past her bat to hit the base of off-stump. At that moment, India were at 35/2 in 4.3 overs as Sri Lanka had a ray of hope to show some fight and bounce back in the game.
Batting at No.4, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur started her innings with a four on her second ball by stepping out and lofting the ball over mid-wicket. But on the other hand, it looked like Smriti was batting on a different pitch altogether as there was no effect on consecutive wickets on her. After the end of the powerplay, She scored two back-to-back boundaries from Kavisha through the off-side with sheer timing and placement.
She was hitting boundaries with ease on a pitch where batters struggled to score runs. Smriti kept on dancing down the pitch to hit two fours by first hitting Inoka over mid-off and then Oshadi over long-on to level the scores.
Smriti played a scintillating knock by scoring an unbeaten 51 off 25 balls, with six fours and three sixes as she finished the chase off in style with a six over long-on to complete the chase with 69 balls to spare as India defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets in a one-sided final. With this win, India lifted the Women’s Asia Cup title for the seventh time from a total of eight championships.
Renuka Singh was awarded Player of the Match for her figures of 3 for 5 in three overs while all-rounder Deepti Sharma was named Player of the Series for taking 13 wickets and scoring 94 runs with the bat in the tournament.
Brief Scores: India 71/2 in 8.3 overs (Smriti Mandhana 51 not out, Harmanpreet Kaur 11 not out; Inoka Ranaweera 1/17, Kavisha Dilhari 1/17) beat Sri Lanka 65/9 in 20 overs (Inoka Ranaweera 18 not out, Oshadi Ranasinghe 13; Renuka Thakur 3/5, Sneh Rana 2/13) by eight wickets.
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