In a historic achievement, the Sri Lanka women’s cricket team clinched their first-ever Women’s Asia Cup title with a confident 8-wicket win over India in the final at Dambulla on July 28, 2024. Skipper Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama played crucial roles in their success. To celebrate this victory, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) announced a reward of USD 500,000.
This remarkable victory came in the ninth edition of the tournament, where Sri Lankans remained unbeaten throughout the competition.
Sri Lanka topped Group B with three commanding victories. They defeated Bangladesh by 7 wickets, Malaysia by 144 runs, and Thailand by 10 wickets, confirming their place in the semi-final with 6 points. In the semi-final, they defeated Pakistan by 3 wickets, where captain Chamari Athapaththu’s 63 off 48 balls guided them to victory. With that Athapaththu claimed her third consecutive Player of the Match award in the tournament, helping Sri Lanka qualify for the Women’s Asia Cup final. In the final, Sri Lanka secured an 8-wicket victory over India and Harshitha Samarawickrama for her unbeaten 69(51) was awarded the Player of the Match award.
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Following their win, Sri Lanka Cricket posted on their official X account, @OfficialSLC, “In recognition of the phenomenal victory of our Sri Lanka Women’s Cricket team in the Asia Cup 2024, Sri Lanka Cricket is thrilled to announce a reward of $500,000 USD! Your dedication, teamwork, and relentless spirit on the pitch have brought immense pride to our nation. This is just the beginning – here’s to celebrating many more victories and glorious moments in the future! 🙌”
Skipper Athapaththu led the team’s campaign from the front and was named the Player of the Tournament, accumulating a record 304 runs, finishing as the leading run-scorer, and claiming 3 wickets. Kavisha Dilhari was Sri Lanka’s highest wicket-taker and 2nd overall, only behind India’s Deepti Sharma (10) with 9 scalps.
The Sri Lankan women’s cricket team is continuing their dominance, experiencing a remarkable period of success over the past 12-18 months, achieving several historic milestones, recording impressive victories across various formats, and winning different T20 tournaments.