Athapaththu and Harshitha stun India as SL win maiden Asia Cup title

Sri Lanka made the most of their home advantage and stunned the in-form Indian side to win their first-ever Women's Asia Cup title on Sunday (June 28). Harshitha Samarawickrama starred along with skipper Chamari Athapaththu, guiding their team to a comfortable eight-wicket victory. 

India made no changes to their playing 11 after a successful outing against Bangladesh in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka made one change as Sachini Nisansala came in for Achini Kulasuriya. Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to bat first. 

The Indian openers started off slowly, but Smriti Mandhana gradually picked up her pace. However, Shafali Verma was unable to take charge of the Sri Lankan bowling unit. She lost her wicket on 16 runs, failing to replicate her form in previous games. 

Uma Chetry came out to bat at number three, a position Team India have been experimenting in the last couple of months. She hit a boundary before getting sent back to the pavilion by Athapaththu. Captain Harmanpreet joined Mandhana with the hope of building a solid partnership with the left-hander. But she didn't last long on the crease either, handing Sachini Nisansala her first wicket.

Mandhana reached her second consecutive half-century. It looked like the Indian vice-captain was fighting a lone battle until Jemimah Rodrigues entered the pitch. She batted with intent and looked in good form from the off. But a tragic turn of events caused her innings to end when she was run out while attempting a second run. She failed to make it back to the crease despite putting a full stretch dive, departing for 29 runs off 16 balls. In the same over, Mandhana also fell victim to Kavisha Dilhari.

In an attempt to register a defendable total, and Richa Ghosh played aggressively. She smashed Dilhari for a six and two fours in the penultimate over. Her impressive cameo helped India end their innings with a total of 165 runs. 

India got an early breakthrough, thanks to Chetry who ran Vishmi Gunaratne out in the second over. The hosts were off to a shaky start just like India, but Athapaththu and Harshitha appeared to be unfazed by the situation.

The Sri Lankan captain took on left-arm spinners Tanuja Kanwer and Radha Yadav which put her side in the driver's seat. She reached the 50-run mark in 33 balls, before Deepti Sharma finally got rid of her to give India a glimmer of hope. 

But it looked like the damage was already done as Harshitha made sure to keep Indian bowlers under pressure. She took her time and reached her half-century 43 balls. The 18th over turned out to be the match-deciding one as Radha became the next target of Harshitha. Dilhari sealed the game for Sri Lanka with 10 balls to spare by hitting a six. 

Athapaththu led by example as she was awarded the Player of the Series. Additionally, she finished the tournament as the highest run-getter, adding 304 runs to her name.  Meanwhile, this is India's first time missing out on the Asia Cup trophy since the defeat against Bangladesh back in 2018. 

Brief scores: India 165/6 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 60, Richa Ghosh 30; Kavisha Dilhari 2/36) lost to Sri Lanka 167/2 in 18.2 overs (Harshitha Samarawickrama 69*, Chamari Athapaththu 61; Deepti Sharma 1/30) by 8 wickets. Player of the Match: Harshitha Samarawickrama. Player of the Series: Chamari Athapaththu.