Sri Lanka beat India by 8 wickets to win their maiden Women's Asia Cup title

Sri Lanka clinched their maiden Women's Asia Cup title after beating the seven-time champions India in the final on Sunday, July 28 in Dambulla. Sri Lanka overcame used surface, mental pressure, expectations and a strong Indian team to chase down 166 runs in the summit clash rather comfortably with eight balls to spare. Skipper Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama starred with half-centuries as India's poor fielding cost them once again.

This was India's first-ever loss to Sri Lanka in a Women's Asia Cup match and what a game and occasion for the hosts to do it against the seven-time champions. Sri Lanka have been runners-up five times in the Women's Asia Cup, four times in the ODI format and once in T20s and lost all those finals against India. 

Apart from the run-out in the second over, nothing went right for India in the field. Dropped catches, missed chances and poor ground fielding, it was all on the show for India. For the first five overs, it seemed like the Indian bowlers had a stranglehold over the Sri Lankan team before the floodgates opened in the final over of the powerplay



with Athapaththu hitting 16 off Tanuja Kanwer.

The next four overs yielded 36 runs with no wickets lost and Sri Lanka were in the driver's seat chasing the 166-run target. Athapaththu and Harshitha Madhavi both kept punishing anything loose from the Indian bowlers and the lacklustre fielding didn't help their cause.

India did get the wicket of Sri Lankan skipper Athapaththu with Deepti Sharma cleaning her up after the former had completed her fifty. However, Harshitha played out the rest of the deliveries with maturity alongside Kavisha Dilhari to take her side to win as India couldn't take any more wickets after getting Athapaththu out.

Highest targets successfully chased in Women’s T20 Asia Cup

166 - SL-W vs IND-W, Dambulla, 2024

142 - BAN-W vs IND-W, Kuala Lumpur, 2018

141 - SL-W vs PAK-W, Dambulla, 2024

Highest targets successfully chased by SL Women in T20Is

166 vs IND-W, Dambulla, 2024

156 vs SA-W, East London, 2024

148 vs IND-W, Vizianagaram, 2014