Opener Smriti Mandhana’s valiant present together with her 45-ball 46 in opposition to the spinners and quick bowler Titas Sadhu’s spectacular new-ball burst helped the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Team India declare a historic gold within the nineteenth version of the Asian Games in Hangzhou as they beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs within the ladies’s cricket ultimate. This was India’s maiden look on this self-discipline after Asian Games staged it twice earlier than, in 2010 Guangzhou and 2014 Incheon.
India’s Titas Sadhu (C) celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of Sri Lanka’s Vishmi Gunarathne in the course of the 2022 Asian Games ladies’s ultimate cricket match between Sri Lanka and India(AFP)
Opting to bat first in opposition to acquainted rivals, whom they met 23 instances beforehand within the T20I format and solely as soon as in a match finale on the 2022 Asia Cup, India misplaced opener Shafali Verma early on. Mandhana then mixed with Jemimah Rodrigues to sew a courageous 73-run stand for the second wicket because the pair took a cautious method in opposition to the Lankan spinners.
The duo smashed 9 boundaries and a solitary six between themselves earlier than sluggish left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera offered Sri Lanka with the much-needed breakthrough and subsequently sparked a collapse after eradicating Mandhana within the fifteenth over. India thereafter had been decreased from 89 for 2 to 117 for six, manging solely 27 runs within the ultimate 31 balls for the lack of 5 wickets. Even captain Harmanpreet, who had missed the primary two matches of India’s marketing campaign in China owing to an ICC-imposed ban, didn’t make a distinction as she was dismissed for two off 5.
In response to the goal of 117, Sri Lanka misplaced their prime three, together with skipper Chamari Athapaththu, in simply 26 balls as Sadhu, who solely made his T20I debut within the semifinal match in opposition to Bangladesh, picked all of the three wickets in her first two overs.
Hasini Perera (25) and Nilakshi de Silva (23) did look to rebuild, however the efforts went in useless as wickets saved falling at common intervals with Rajeshwari Gayakwad selecting two wickets whereas Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar and Devika Vaidya snared a wicket every to limit Sri Lanka to 97 for eight in 20 overs.
Earlier within the match, primarily based on their T20I rankings as of the closing date, India started their marketing campaign from the quarterfinal stage. They confronted Malaysia of their opener, however the match was washed out attributable to rain after the latter confronted simply two balls in response to the goal of 174 runs. By advantage of being the upper seeded aspect, India made the semis, the place they crushed Bangladesh by eight wickets.
This was India’s second gold medal in 2023 Asian Games after the trio of Rudrankksh Patil, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Divyansh Singh Panwar completed prime of the rostrum in Men’s 10m air rifle workforce earlier on Monday morning. Overall, India now have 11 medals with two gold, three silver and 6 bronze.
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Source: www.hindustantimes.com
