Asian Games: India clinch gold medal in women's cricket, beat Sri Lanka in final

India won a gold medal in the women’s cricket discipline at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on Monday. In the final, India beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs in a low-scoring affair. Batting first, India scored 116/7 while batting first with Smriti Mandhana (46 from 45 balls) and Jemimah Rodrigues (42 runs from 40 balls) the only players to reach double digits. In reply, Sri Lanka were stopped short on 97/8 in their 20 overs. For the islanders, Hasini Perera (25 from 22), Nilakshi de Silva (23 from 34) and Oshadi Ranasinghe (19 from 26 balls) were among the runs but didn’t get the requisite support at the lower end to chase things down. This is India’s second gold medal of the Hangzhou Asian Games - after the Men’s 10m Air Rifle team created a world record - and extended the country’s medal tally to 11. India are participating in the cricket event for the first time at the Asian Games. In the two previous inclusions, in 2010 and 2014, Pakistan had won the gold medal. Sri Lanka made a disastrous start to their chase, losing three wickets in the gap of a run across 13 balls, to go 14/3. Perera and Nilakshi stitched 36 run stand to keep themselves in the hunt followed by a 28-run partnership between Ranasinghe and Nilakshi. But with required rate rising, Sri Lanka buckled under pressure to lose the next four wickets in 18 runs. For India, Titas Sadhu posted staggering 3/6 figures with Rajeshwari Gayakwad picking two wickets at the cost of 20 runs. India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said on the gold medal win, “Feels great that we’ve won the gold medal. We came here for the gold and achieved it today. Wishing luck to all the other athletes who have matches remaining and hope they bring a gold as well.” India women’s cricket team coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said, “Just wanted to say that I’m very happy as the team coach that we’ve got a gold - one for the country and it’s a great honour. Congratulations to the shooting team for the first gold. It’s a great feeling and happy to be in this position.”