India’s women retained their Asian Games cricket title on Tuesday, September 22, thrashing Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the gold medal match at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan. It was India’s first gold of the Aichi-Nagoya Games and a repeat of the 2023 final in Hangzhou.
Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and batted, and Smriti Mandhana set the tone with 79 from 45 balls, an innings containing five fours and seven sixes. Richa Ghosh finished unbeaten on 49 as India closed on 216 for 3 from their 20 overs, the highest team total recorded in the Asian Games women’s cricket competition.
Sri Lanka never threatened the target. Captain Chamari Athapaththu top-scored with 29 before the innings folded for 69 in 15.4 overs. Deepti Sharma returned figures of 3 for 6 and Shreyanka Patil took 2 for 9.
In the bronze medal match earlier the same day, Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 31 runs, posting 145 for 8 and restricting their opponents to 114 for 7. Fatima Sana made 45 in Pakistan’s innings.
India finished the tournament with three wins from three matches, with Sri Lanka taking silver and Pakistan bronze.
