Sri Lanka women's team defeat India by eight wickets to clinch maiden Asia Cup title
India women's team were subjected to a huge upset, as they were ousted by Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the 2024 Women's Asia Cup final at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Sunday, July 28. Harmanpreet Kaur and company entered the tournament as defending champions and favorites, and had a comfortable unbeaten run until the final.
After opting to bat first, the Women in Blue had a decent start courtesy of a 44-run opening stand between Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Varma. The former went onto score yet another fifty to continue her fine run, but India were held back as Sri Lanka bowlers responded with wickets in quick intervals.
Cameos from Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh helped India boost their total to 165/6.
In the second innings, India struck early after a colossal mix-up between openers Chamari Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne. The latter was dismissed for just one run in the second over of the run chase itself. Skipper Athapaththu led from the front with a sublime fifty, and shared a 87-run partnership with Harshita Samarawickrama to keep the hosts in the game.
India made a breakthrough after Deepti Sharma bowled Athapaththu with a clever delivery on the leg stump. The match was well-poised at this stage with Sri Lanka's biggest batter back in the hunt.
However, the pair of Samarawickrama and Kavisha Dilhari showed no sign of fear as they sensibly approached the remainder of the run chase. With the run rate hovering around the 10-run mark after the skipper's dismissal, the pair dealt with it calmly, while Harmanpreet Kaur's dropped catch at a crucial juncture also playing a role.
Sri Lanka scored 17 runs off the 18th over to turn the tide, and wrapped up the chase with eight balls to spare. This also marked their highest-ever run chase in the shortest format.
India women's team lose out on the Asia Cup only for the second time in history
Since the competition's inception in 2004, India have gone onto lift the title seven times. Their sole loss in finals prior to the 2024 edition was in 2018 when they lost to Bangladesh.
As far as Sri Lanka are concerned, they were the runner-ups for the first four editions of the competition. They made it to the finals of the 2024 edition after a 16-year gap, that too after a tense win over Pakistan in the semi-finals.