Captain Chamari Athapaththu’s turbo-charged fifty combined well with the steadfast half-century of Harshitha Samarawickrama as a resilient Sri Lanka carved an eight-wicket win over defending champions India to bag their maiden women’s Asia Cup title in Dambulla on Sunday.
This is the second time in nine Asia Cup editions (WODI and WT20I) across formats that India have lost a final. The last time India lost the final was against Bangladesh in 2018 in Kuala Lumpur.
Tasked with hunting down a strong target of 166, Sri Lanka served well by Athapaththu (61b, 43b, 9×4, 2×6) and Samarawickrama (69 not out, 51b, 6×4, 2×6) and finished at 167 for two in 18.4 overs.
Athapaththu and Samarawickrama added 87 runs as Lankans always stayed ahead of their opponents.
The stand for the for the second wicket was also of contrasts as Samarawickra was the yin to the yang of her aggressive leader.
Athapaththu fetched her fifty in 33 balls, and Samarawickrama went past her mark in 43 balls and their shot selection too was vastly differing.
Athapaththu scored through almost every reachable place on the field, and her assault on left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar, who she biffed for two fours and six in her first over, was stunning.
Earlier, Smriti Mandhana’s conditions-defying half-century powered India to a fighting 165/6 against Sri Lanka.
Mandhana slammed a brilliant 60 from 47 balls, hitting 10 fours, while Jemimah Rodrigues contributed with a quickfire 29 from 16 balls and Richa Ghosh stroked 30 from 14 balls as India managed to defy the plethora of Lankan spinners after skipper Harmanpreet Kaur decided to bat.
In fact, the home side included only one pacer in their ranks – Udeshika Prabodhani and the rest were all slow bowlers.
The Lanka bowlers indeed made good use of a slow pitch as well, often strangling the otherwise free-flowing Indian batters.
It was evident from the struggles of Shafali Verma, who made 16 from 19 balls, as she found it difficult to time her shots.
Mandhana had a massive slice of fortune early in the innings as her weak chip off spinner Kavisha Dilhari was put down at covers by Harshitha Samarawickrama.
The left-hander made the hosts pay for that mistake with some gorgeous shots, especially against Prabodhani whom she carted for three fours in the sixth over as India reached 44 for no loss.
But Verma soon fell leg before to Dilhari after getting pinged on her pads while trying a tweak to the on-side.
As the Powerplay came to an end, Mandhana had to resort to some improvisations such as scoops behind the stumper to get her boundaries.
The Indian vice-captain also often had to make room for herself or shuffle across the stumps to find the ropes because the ball was not exactly coming on to her bat.
While Mandhana managed to beat the slowness of the deck, it consumed Harmanpreet and Uma Chetry, who got a promotion to No. 3.
At 87/3 in the 12th over, India needed a move-on and it was given by an aggressive Rodrigues in the company of Mandhana, making 41 runs off 25 balls for the fourth wicket.
However, the run out of Rodrigues and the dismissal of Mandhana pushed India to 133 for five in 16.5 overs.
Ghosh played a typical swift innings that contained a massive slog-swept six off Dilhari over the mid-wicket.
In the company of Pooja Vastrakar, Ghosh milked 31 runs for the crucial sixth wicket stand that carried India past the 160-run mark, which might require a very strong chase from the Lankans to overhaul.
