Harmanpreet Kaur India Sri Lanka Pakistan cricket bowling cup Harmanpreet Kaur India Sri Lanka Pakistan

Women's Asia Cup Final: India start favourites against Sri Lanka in pursuit of 7th Asia cup title

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The tournament brought to fore India's depth as the younger crop of players has shouldered the burden of taking the team to the final without any tangible contribution from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputy Smriti Mandhana.

Such has been the impact of the Indian team, that skipper Harmanpreet played only four games (81 runs) and in total faced a only 72 balls in those matches.

Even Mandhana, who led in three games, skipped one game and didn't need to contribute much. The biggest takeaway from a tournament like this is that Indian team's junior members could react to pressure situations in a perfect manner when they were thrown at the deep end of the pool.

The most heartening aspect was how three 'seasoned' youngsters -- 18 year-old Shafali Verma (161 runs and 3 wickets), 22-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues (215 runs) and 25-year-old Deepti Sharma (94 runs and 13 wickets) put their hands up and carried the team through to the summit clash.

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India hammered Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in Sylhet to clinch a seventh Women's Asia Cup title on Saturday. After restricting Sri Lanka to a total of 65/9, India chased down the total inside nine overs. After the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side lifted the title, the Board of Control for Cricket in India shared a sneak peek of the team's celebrations in Sylhet. The video starts with the players standing in a huddle, with their backs against the trophy. However, it didn't take long for the celebrations to get out of hands as the players started dancing to ecstatic chants.
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Sri Lanka, who were playing their first tournament final in 14 years, imploded after opting to bat on a slow and turning pitch. They could only manage 65 for nine which India knocked off in 8.3 overs. Smriti Mandhana struck a sublime 51 not out off 25 balls.
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