Sri Lanka and India clash for Asian Games gold once again
ThePapareNews article
The gold medal match of the women's cricket event at the 20th Asian Games, being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, is scheduled to take place today (22) at the Korogi Athletic Park ground in Nisshin.
A special feature of this gold medal contest is that India, who won gold at the last Games, and Sri Lanka, who took silver at those same Games, have once again made it through to the final.
The two sides also met in the final of the Women's Asia Cup organised by the Asian Cricket Council, where India beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs to be crowned Asian champions.
Sri Lanka reached this match by defeating Malaysia in the quarter-final and a strong Pakistan side in the semi-final, while India got here by beating Japan in the quarter-final and Bangladesh in the semi-final.
The player who has drawn the most attention in the matches completed so far in this tournament is India's 22-year-old all-rounder Shafali Verma. She finished her team's two completed matches with 140 runs, including an unbeaten 100 off 49 balls against Bangladesh. She struck 9 sixes and 3 fours in that innings, which was her maiden century in T20 International cricket.
As she goes into this final, she has earned her team's confidence as a reliable attacking batter, having scored 272 runs in her last 4 completed innings while maintaining an average of 136.0. Those innings include the 68 runs she made against Sri Lanka in the final of the recently concluded Asia Cup T20 tournament.
In addition to her, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana have performed well with the bat in this tournament, while among the bowlers Shree Charani has taken 6 wickets in two matches, with Nandani Sharma and Deepti Sharma also bowling impressively.
In bringing Sri Lanka to this stage, the performances of captain Chamari Athapaththu have been the most influential. She finished the two completed matches with two half-centuries, scoring 146 runs in those two innings at an average of 73.00. She currently leads the run-scoring charts in this tournament. Her contributions also include 3 wickets taken.
Apart from her, Hasini Perera, Kavisha Dilhari and Harshitha Samarawickrama have also performed well with the bat in this tournament.
In the wicket-taking department, Kavisha Dilhari, Mithali Ayodhya, Sugandika Kumari and Kavya Kavindi have impressed.
The two countries have played 32 T20 Internationals against each other to date, with India winning 26 and Sri Lanka only 5. The other match ended without a result.
With such a history between the two sides, India come into this match having won 7 consecutive matches against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's last win over India came in the Asia Cup final played here in 2024.
The Sri Lanka women's cricket team that played the previous match
Chamari Athapaththu (Captain), Imesha Dulani, Hasini Perera, Kavisha Dilhari, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Hansima Karunaratne, Mithali Ayodhya, Kaushini Nuthyangana (wicketkeeper), Sugandika Kumari, Kavya Kavindi and Chamudi Prabodha.
The Indian women's cricket team that played the previous match
Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Gunalan Kamalini, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Bharti Fulmali, Deepti Sharma, Shreyanka Patil, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani, Nandani Sharma.
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Based on ThePapare reporting