India clinch Women’s Emerging Asia Cup 2019 title as Sri Lanka gets a narrow defeat.
India managed to clinch victory over Sri Lanka in what was a close match at RPICS, Colombo. After the target was revised for Sri Lanka, India bowled them out to emerge as the champions of the tournament.
The toss was won by the emerging team of India Women who elected to bat first.
Batting first, India had a poor start. After opener Prativa Rana was run-out in the 5th over, wickets fell in bunches. In-form Indian batters, Nuzhat Parween and Devika Vaidya also got out cheaply. Yastika Bhatia scored 18 runs. The next two in line, Tejal Hasabnis and Minnu Mani were also dismissed in single digits and India was in trouble. At 24.4 overs, India were at 63/6. But then Tanushree Sarkar and Sushree Dibyadarshini formed a good partnership. After Dibyadarshini was out on 14(26), it was Simran Bahadur who took the innings forward. Sarkar and Bahadur made the highest partnership of the match, making 50 runs off 82 balls. Sarkar was the highest scorer, hitting 47 runs in 75 balls while Bahadur made 34 runs in 51 balls. Manali Dakshini too contributed crucial runs to the team’s score as she remained not out on 18(17). India made a total of 175 runs and lost 9 wickets in 50 overs.
While Kaveesha Dilhari Welikonthage and Sachini Nissansala G took 3 and 2 wickets for Sri Lanka respectively, the bowling unit handed 19 extras to the Indian team. This was crucial as later India would win over Sri Lanka by 14 runs.
Sri Lankan openers had a similar story while chasing the revised target of 150. Captain Harshitha Samarawickrama showed promise as she built the innings along with Lihini Apsara. Their 48-run partnership lasted for 68 balls. Harshitha 39(64) and Apsara 22(40) both were dismissed by Devika Vaidya. In came Madushika Lakmali M, and made 25 runs. Sri Lanka was close to the total. They required only 15 runs but had one wicket in hand. Sushree Dibyadarshini got the final and her only wicket of the match as Tharika Sewwandi M was stumped by wicketkeeper Nuzhat Parween in the 35th over. Sri Lanka were all-out on 135 and India won the match by 14 runs.
India’s bowling was good. But in the search of wickets, they dished out many extras as well. But it was the frequent wicket taking by Tanuja Kanwar and Devika Vaidya that won India the game. Both of them bagged 4 wickets each to destabilize Sri Lanka’s batting line-up.
India innings: 175/9 in 50.0 overs
Sri Lanka innings: 135 all-out in 34.3 overs (Revised target 150)
Result: India won the match by 14 runs (D/L method)
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