Asian Games 2023: India women clinch Gold medal to become champions in maiden attempt

The Indian women's cricket team clinched the Gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 with a win over Sri Lanka in the summit clash. The Women in Blue on Monday defeated Sri Lanka in the final by 19 runs to take the yellow metal at the Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field, Hangzhou. This was India's second Gold medal at the Asiad 2023 with the first coming on the same morning.

The Women in Blue scored 116 on a tricky pitch in Hangzhou. Smriti Mandhana top-scored for India with 46 runs. After Shafali Veram departed, Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues stabilised the Indian ship. The duo batted with patience and took calculated risks in a 73-run stand for the second wicket. They helped the team post a decent total on a challenging pitch. 

Sri Lanka were in all sorts of trouble when they lost Anushka Sanjeewani and Vishmi Gunaratne in the third over. Titas Sadhu



broke the back of the Sri Lankan top-order and then she removed the big fish Chamari Athapaththu to further peg the opposition back. The Lankan team displayed a fight with some brave shots but they were not enough for them to pose an upset. Hasini Perera and Nilakshi de Silva put a 36-run stand for the third wicket to bail the team out of trouble. But Gayakwad then removed Perera and Sri Lanka's hopes took a nose dive. The Commonwealth Games Silver medallists then restricted Sri Lanka to 97 runs to take the top prize home. 

This is India's second Gold medal at the Asian Games 2023. The nation got its first yellow metal on Monday morning when Divyansh Panwar, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Rudrankksh Patil won the Men's 10m Air Rifle Team Gold. India now has 11 medals in total - 2 Golds, 3 Silvers and 6 Bronze medals with a few more competitions open for more prizes.