India vs Sri Lanka Asia Cup Highlights: Indian Women's cricket team won the Women's Asia Cup title for the record-exteding seventh time by defeating Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in the final played at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Saturday. Bowling first, India women's cricket team restricted Sri Lanka to just 65 runs for loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs and then chased down the target comfortably in 8.3 overs after losing two wickets.
Smriti Mandhana was the pick of Indian batters as she played some exquisite strokes to score an unbeaten 51 alongside captain Harmanpreet Kaur who notched up an unbeaten 11. Mandhana sealed the win for her team by hitting a six to finish off things in style. This was the eighth season of the Women's Asia Cup, while it was India's seventh title win. India has won the Women's Asia Cup four times in the ODI format and three times in the T20 format.
Pace bowler Renuka Singh Thakur emerged as the star performer as she bagged 3 wickets for 5 runs in 3 overs. Apart from her, Rajeshwari Gaikwad and Sneh Rana picked two wickets apiece.
The win is a shot in the arm for India's preparations for the T20 World Cup next year. They were able to test players for different roles during the competition, though that also contributed to their only loss in the tournament, against Pakistan in the league stage.
The Indians took a lap of the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium and, in a fine gesture, got clicked with the entire groundstaff after their triumph, which was witnessed by a sizeable turnout.
(With PTI Inputs)
India playing XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Dayalan Hemalatha, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Sri Lanka playing XI: Chamari Athapaththu (c), Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Harshitha Madavi, Hasini Perera, Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Malsha Shehani, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Sugandika Kumari, Inoka Ranaweera, Achini Kulasuriya