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Sport

India's women retain Asian Games cricket gold with 147-run rout of Sri Lanka

Smriti Mandhana's 79 off 45 balls set up 216 for three — the highest women's T20I total at an Asian Games — before India's spinners bowled Sri Lanka out for 69 in Nisshin.

By Priya Raman · · Updated · 1 min read

Richa Ghosh batting for India against Bangladesh at the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup.
Photo: Bahnfrend, via Wikimedia Commons · source

India’s women retained their Asian Games cricket gold on Tuesday, thrashing Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin to give India its first gold medal of the 2026 Asian Games.

Winning the toss and batting first, India posted 216 for three in 20 overs — the highest total in women’s T20 internationals at an Asian Games across four editions. Smriti Mandhana led the assault with 79 off 45 balls, hitting five fours and seven sixes and passing 11,000 international runs along the way. She added 99 for the first wicket with Shafali Verma (48 off 29) before Richa Ghosh’s unbeaten 49 off 22 balls lifted India past 200.

The 147-run winning margin was India’s biggest-ever victory in women’s T20 internationals, eclipsing a 144-run win over Malaysia in 2018.

Sri Lanka’s chase never took off. Deepti Sharma took three for six, while Shafali (two for three), Shree Charani and Shreyanka Patil claimed two wickets apiece as the islanders were bowled out for 69 in 15.4 overs. Chamari Athapaththu top-scored with 29.

It was India’s second consecutive women’s cricket gold after their triumph at Hangzhou 2023 — joining Pakistan (2010, 2014) as the only sides to successfully defend the title. Earlier in the day, Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 31 runs to take the bronze medal.

Sources

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