Asian Games, Women's Cricket Final: Indian eves clinch gold defeating Sri Lanka
The Indian women’s cricket team in its maiden appearance defeated Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the final of the Asian Games.
Women players celebrate after winning the women's cricket event
HANGZHOU: Smriti Mandhana and rookie pacer Titas Sadhu singlehandedly guided India to its second gold medal on Monday as the Indian women’s cricket team in its maiden appearance defeated Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the final of the Asian Games.
On a pitch difficult for batting, the Indian women’s team batting first registered 116 for seven but it was just about par score.
However Titas, who is just four days shy of her 19th birthday, bowled a devastating first spell and finished with superb figures giving away just 6 runs in her four overs, thus played a big role in restricting Sri Lanka to 97 for eight in 20 overs.
She had an able ally in leg-spinner Devika Vaidya (4-0-15-1), who kept a tight leash on the islanders. This was one gold medal that India was expected to win, but the standard of cricket was pretty poor, and the nature of wicket didn’t help matters.
The lanky Titas bowled quick and kept her deliveries on fuller length to get three wickets in her first two overs, including opposition skipper and their best batter Chamari Athapaththu (12).
The Indian women’s team is missing a genuine quick bowler in its ranks since the retirement of Jhulan Goswami and Titas looks to be a worthy successor. However, her wares would be proved once she is pitted against players of SENA countries.
Sensing the slow nature of the track, Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur started with off-spinner Sharma but the left-handed Athapaththu quickly went on the offensive with a slog swept six and a boundary off the very first over.
Earlier, Smriti Mandhana (46 off 45 balls), who hit four boundaries and a six, along with Jemimah Rodrigues (42 off 40 balls), added 73 runs for the second wicket.
In order to counter the slowness, both Mandhana and Rodrigues used the sweep shot with some degree of success.
Mandhana was looking in fine touch till she hurt herself while completing a quick single and post that, her footwork against the spinners wasn’t as good as it was at the start of her innings. It was one slog sweep too many that brought about her downfall.
Richa Ghosh started with a six, but didn’t last long. Harmanpreet’s lack of match time was evident as she struggled during her short stay. But in the end, the total was enough to ensure a second gold medal of the Games.
BRIEF SCORES: India 116/7 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 46, Jemimah Rodrigues 42)bt Sri Lanka 97/8 in 20 overs (Titas Sadhu 3/6)
