Nisshin : India inflicted a heavy 147-run defeat over Sri Lanka to claim the gold medal in women’s cricket at the 2026 Asian Games.
Led by Smriti Mandhana’s 79 off 45 deliveries, coupled with useful knocks from Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh, India posted a mammoth 216/3 in their 20 overs.
Sri Lanka’s chase never really got going despite efforts from Chamari Athapaththu who scored 29 off 21 deliveries, as they kept losing wickets at the other end as the Indian spinners ran through the Sri Lankan batting order.
Harmanpreet Kaur opted to bat first in the gold-medal match and her decision was instantly vindicated by the opening pair of Verma and Mandhana who took the attack to the Sri Lankan bowlers from the word go to stitch a damaging opening stand that fell just one run short of a hundred.
Despite Chamudi Praboda dismissing Verma two runs shy of her fifty, there was no stopping the Indian batting line-up. Mandhana continued her assertive approach at the other end and she was joined by Ghosh who delivered the finishing punch after captain Harmanpreet’s dismissal.
Richa Ghosh’s 49 off 22 deliveries took India beyond the 200-run mark which gave the team a solid platform to clinch the gold.
Verma who laid the foundation for India with the bat did the early damage with the ball as he sent Imesha Dulani and Hasini Perera back in the hut inside the first five overs.
Sri Lanka’s hopes were all but extinguished when Deepti Sharma got rid of Athapaththu in the seventh over leaving the 2022 silver-medallists a mountain to climb.
Shreyanka Patil and Sree Charani then got into the act to rip through the Sri Lankan middle-order and take India on the brink of victory. India bowled Sri Lanka out inside 16 overs to record a big win and claim their second successive gold medal in women’s cricket at the Asian Games.
Sharma finished with three wickets with Verma, Sree Charani and Patil picking up two wickets each. This was also India’s biggest ever win against any opponents in Women’s T20I (margin of runs), and their largest winning streak in T20I- 8*.
For Sri Lanka, who were also second best to India in the Asia Cup, the Asian Games ended with a creditable silver medal.
The achievement marks India’s first Gold Medal in Asian Games 2026.
Brief Scorecard –
IND : 216/3 (20)
SL : 69 (15.4)
Result : India won by 147 runs.
