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, 9x4, 2x6) and Samarawickrama (69 not out, 51b, 6x4, 2x6) 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.