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Saturday, October 15, 2022

Indian women thrash Sri Lanka, lift Asia Cup 2022

On Sept. 11, 2022 - Asia Cup 2022 – Indians faltered and could not reach the finals -  Lankan batted well,  recovered well, bowled to a plan and caught almost everything that was on air.    Dasun Shanaka led the team to another Asia Cup title.  Today, Indian Women did the Nation proud by winning the Cup.  


Back in Apr 2004, at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka Women won the toss and  elected to field first.  In WODI no. 487 – Indian team scored 178/5 and  bowled out Sri Lanka women for 84, winning by a huge margin of 94 runs.   

The Surma River  starts where the Barak River from northeast India divides at the Bangladesh border into the Surma and the Kushiyara rivers and  ultimately flows  into the Bay of Bengal.  Sylhet is located   on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal  and is one of the largest cities in Bangladesh after Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna.   The city is served by the Osmani International Airport, named after General Bangabir M A G Osmani, the Commander-in-Chief of the Mukti Bahini during the Bangladesh Liberation War.  .. .. today’s Asia cup final was played at Sylhet. 

Sylhet International Cricket Stadium  went a thorough expansion in 2013, to host matches for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and 2014 ICC Women's World Twenty20. The stadium hosted its first international match on 17 March 2014 with Ireland taking on Zimbabwe. 

The Asian Cricket Council Women's Asia Cup   is a women's One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket tournament. It was established in 2004 and is a biennial tournament,  contested by cricket teams from Asia.  The first Women's Asia Cup was held in 2004 on Colombo and Kandy in the Sri lanka. The 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic before being cancelled. The ICC has ruled that all the matches played in the Women's Asia Cup has ODI or T20I status. The 2012 Women's Asia Cup was the first event to be played in the T20 format.

 

Against much expectations, today it was a  one-sided final as India defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets with 11.3 overs to spare to lift their 7th Asia Cup crown. Smriti Mandhana finished things off in style scoring her  18th T20I fifty. Earlier, Renuka Singh (3/5), Rajeshwari Gayakwad (2/16), and Sneh Rana (2/13) restricted  Sri Lanka 65 for 9 in 20 overs. Inoka Ranaweera (18 not out) was the top scorer for Sri Lanka. 

India dominated from start to finish -  Smriti Mandhana, who blazed her way to her first half-century in the competition, and captain Harmanpreet Kaur completed the paltry 66-run chase in the ninth over. Sri Lanka's 65 for 9 is the lowest total by a side batting first and playing out the full 20 overs in a women's tournament final. India chased it down with 69 balls to spare, which constitutes another record in a women's T20I title clash.  Renuka Singh had a hand in four of Sri Lanka's first five wickets, finishing with 3-1-5-3 and the run-out of the captain Chamari Athapaththu. Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gayakwad took two wickets each. 

The final attracted the biggest crowd of the tournament - about 10,000 or so - to the picturesque Sylhet International Stadium. But before half of them had even taken their seats, India had reduced Sri Lanka to 9 for 4 in the fourth over.

 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
15th Oct 2022. 

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