On Monday, September 25, the Indian women’s cricket team etched their names in history, as the Women in Blue defeated Sri Lanka by 19 runs to earn the first-ever Cricket Gold medal at the Asian Games. This is the second gold India clinched in the ongoing 2023 Asian Games so far. The first gold was secured by India’s shooters Rudrankksh, Aishwary and Divyansh in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle Team event.
The women’s cricket team accomplished this extraordinary victory by defending 116 runs to defeat Sri Lanka by 19 runs at the Pingfeng Cricket Field in Hangzhou, China, where the games are being held this year.
Hangzhou Asian Games: India women's cricket team beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs to win gold medal. This is India's second gold in this edition of the Games pic.twitter.com/xBpVxSX3lT
— ANI (@ANI) September 25, 2023
Harmanpreet Kaur, India’s captain, won the toss and chose to bat first in the final. Shafali Varma was the first wicket to go, with Sugandika Kumari taking her first of the day. After that, Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues put on an important 73-run stand to put India back in the game.
Mandhana, on the other hand, fell short of her 23rd T20I half-century, being dismissed by Inoka Ranaweera after scoring 46 runs off 45 balls, smacking five boundaries and a single six.
India managed to post 116 for 7 on the scoreboard after 20 overs.
Team India and Team Sri Lanka are competing for the women's gold medal in cricket at Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field.#Hangzhou #AsianGames #TeamIndia #TeamSriLanka #Cricket #HangzhouAsianGames #GoldMedal @WeAreTeamIndia @ACCMedia1 @ICC… pic.twitter.com/gwd1QzLzah
— 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 Official (@19thAGofficial) September 25, 2023
India got off to a fast start in the second innings, taking three early wickets. Titas Sadhu struck with the new ball, dismissing both openers Chamari Athapaththu and Anushka Sanjeewani, as well as Vishmi Gunaratne, to reduce Sri Lanka to 14 for 3 in 4.2 overs.
Sri Lanka finished their innings with 97 for 8 after 20 overs, falling 19 runs short.
Sadhu was India’s best bowler, taking three wickets and allowing six runs in four overs. With this, the Women in Blue managed to get India its second gold medal at the ongoing Asian Games 2023.
With this remarkable victory, India has until now won 11 medals at Hangzhou 2023, two gold, three silvers and six bronze.
In fact, on day 1 of the 2023 Asian Games itself, India had secured two silver medals; one in Women’s 10m air rifle shooting and the other in Men’s lightweight double sculls rowing.
India is being represented by a 655-member strong contingent in Hangzhou. The 19th edition of the multi-sport event, which was opened on September 23 and extends until October 8, was initially slated for 2022 but was postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
