A fiery spell by Titas Sandhu and tight spin bowling from Deepti Sharma and Devika Vaidya helped India defend a modest total of 117 runs to safe the gold medal in the ladies’s cricket event on the ongoing Hangzhou Asian Games, beating Sri Lanka in the ultimate by 19 runs at Hangzhou on September 25.
With this, the Indian girls’s crew has captured a Cricket gold medal in their first Asian Games outing.
The Indian girls’s crew elected to bat first. Sugandika Kumari gave a giant jolt to the Women in Blue, dismissing Shafali Varma for simply 9 runs. India was 16/1 in 3.Four overs.
After this, opener Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues rebuilt the innings. On what appeared like a tough, sluggish floor, they each examined the endurance of the Sri Lankan bowlers.
At the top of the powerplay, India was 35/1 in six overs.
At the top of 10 overs, India was at 59/1 with Mandhana 27*, and Rodrigues 22* unbeaten on the crease.
Inoka Ranaweera gave SL the much-needed breakthrough, eliminating Smriti for 46 off 45 balls with 4 boundaries and a six. India was 89/2 in 14.5 overs and the 73-run stand between Mandhana-Rodrigues was over.
That wicket precipitated a collapse in the Indian innings as apart from Rodrigues, who scored 42 in 40 balls with 5 fours, no different batter may stand tall in opposition to the Lankan facet. India ended their innings at 116/7 in 20 overs.
Kumari (2/30), Ranaweera (2/21) and Udeshika Prabodhani (2/16) have been among the many wickets for Sri Lanka.
In the chase of 117 runs, Sri Lanka was troubled by medium-pacer Titas Sandhu, who dismissed the highest order consisting of skipper Chamari Athapaththu (12), Anushka Sanjeewani (1) and Vishmi Gunaratne (0), lowering SL to 14/3 in 4.2 overs.
At the top of the powerplay, SL was 28/3.
Hasini Perera and Nilakshi de Silva had began to rebuild the Lankan innings, serving to them cross the 50-run mark in 9.Three overs. But Rajeshwari Gayakwad turned the tide in India’s favour by eradicating Hasini for 25 off 22 balls, with 4 boundaries and a six. SL was 50/4 in 9.5 overs.
From then on, the street to gold received more durable for SL, as spinners Deepti Sharma and Devika Vaidya restricted the run circulate. But Nilakshi and Oshadi Ranasinghe fought again with some boundaries, leaving SL with 43 to get in the ultimate 5 overs.
But Pooja Vastrakar, India’s star in the semifinal with the ball, eliminated Nilakshi for 23 off 34 balls, ending a combating 28-run partnership. SL was 78/5 in 16.1 overs.
Deepti additionally eliminated Ranasinghe, who performed a combating knock of 19 in 26 balls. SL was 86/6 in 17.Four overs.
Sri Lanka was left to make 30 in the ultimate two overs.
Kavisha Dilhari was eliminated by Vaidya for 5 and Gayakwad eliminated Sugandika Kumari for five. SL was 96/8 in 19.5 overs.
India managed to defend their modest total, limiting Sri Lanka to simply 97/8 in 20 overs, profitable the match by 19 runs.
Titas was the choose of the bowlers for India with 3/6 in 4 overs. Gayakwad took 2/20 in three overs. Vastrakar, Deepti and Vaidya received one wicket every. Sri Lanka had to accept a silver medal.
On the opposite hand, Bangladesh chased down a goal of 65 runs set by Pakistan to seize the bronze medal.
Brief Scores: India: 116/7 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 46, Jemimah Rodrigues 42, Udeshika Prabodhani 2/16) beat Sri Lanka: 97/8 (Hasini Perera 25, Nilakshi de Silva 23, Titas Sandu 3/6, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2/20).
(with inputs from ANI)
