Asian Games 2023: Indian women’s cricket team clinch historic gold by beating Sri Lanka in final

New Delhi: The Indian women’s cricket team created history in Hangzhou on Monday. Indian team led by Harmanpreet Kaur defeated Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the women’s cricket final of Asian Games 2023. The Indian team won the gold medal with this and entered its name in the pages of history.

The Indian team participated in the Asian Games for the first time and won the gold medal. India won gold medal for the first time in cricket competition. In the match played in Hangzhou, India won the toss and batted first and scored 116 runs by taking seven wickets in the allotted 20 overs. In reply, the Sri Lankan team scored 97 runs for 8 wickets in 20 overs.

Chasing a target of 117 runs, Sri Lanka got off to a flying start by captain Chamari Attapattu. He scored 12 runs with a six and a four in the first over of the innings by Deepti Sharma. Again, India’s young fast bowler Titus Sidhu spread his fire. In his first over, he made the hunt for Anushka Sanjeevani (1) and Vishmi Gunaratne. Gunaratne khata nahi khol saki.

After this, Sidhu gave a strong blow to Sri Lanka by getting captain Chamari Attapattu (12) caught out by Deepti Sharma in the covers. This was followed by a partnership between Hasini Perera (25) and Nilakshi de Silva (23), but both could not increase the run rate.

The Indian bowlers took wickets at regular intervals and kept Sri Lanka well out of reach of the target. Rajeshwari Gaikwad bowled the last over to seal India’s victory. Titus Sidhu took the most three wickets for India. Rajeshwari Gaikwad got two successes. Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar and Devika Vaidya got one wicket each.

India did not get off to a good start after winning the toss and batting. Shaifali Verma (9) Kumari did the stumping. From here, Smriti Mandhana (46) and Jemima Rodriguez (42) put on a partnership of 73 runs for the second wicket to take India close to 100 runs. Mandhana missed his half-century. He scored 46 runs in 45 balls with four fours and one six.

Indian innings faltered after Mandhana’s dismissal. Richa Ghosh (9), captain Harmanpreet Kaur (2), Pooja Vastrakar (2), Amanjot Kaur (1) returned to the pavilion cheaply. Jemima also got out in the last over. He scored 42 runs in 40 balls with the help of five fours. For Sri Lanka, Udeshika Prabodhani, Sugandhika Kumari and Inoka Ranveera got two wickets each.