Indian Women’s cricket team clinched the gold medal at the Asian Games in China in their maiden attempt. A clinical display with the ball helped India beat Sri Lanka in the finals to secure gold. On a surface that was not batting-friendly, India opted to bat first after winning the toss. Even though the openers opened their account with boundaries, Shefali Verma was not looking comfortable at all and got out stumped in the 4th over by Sugandika Kumari. The Innings was then revived by Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues. Both batters showed positive instinct and played a good platform for upcoming batters and made a handy partnership of 73 runs.

The run rate was under six almost every over because the pitch was very sluggish in nature. However, Sri Lankan bowlers were bowling very tight lines to Indian batters and bounced back in style at the death overs as they kept picking wickets at regular intervals. The last five overs proved to be quite disastrous for India as they ended up adding only 27 runs at the expense of five wickets to finish with 116 for 7 wickets. But on a track that was assisting a lot of turns, this was always going to be a fighting total.

In response, the Sri Lankan batter Chamari Athapaththu smashed a six and four in the very first over to cause jitters in the Indian camp. Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, then introduced the young fast bowler from Bengal Titas Sadhu, who did not disappoint and struck twice in the over to shake the confidence of the Sri Lankan camp and put India in control. To make matters worse for Sri Lanka, Sadhu then removed Athapaththu the in-form batter in her very next over, Sri Lanka was 15 for 3 at the end of five overs. But the Sri Lankan batters kept the run rate ticking and scored occasional boundaries to stay in the hunt.

On the other hand, Indian Bowlers bowled very good line and length not giving any inch to Sri Lankan batters to score big. The pressure kept mounting on Sri Lankan batters on the halfway mark they were 50 for 4 in 10 overs. They needed a huge effort in the last 10 overs to clinch gold. But Indian Bowlers held their nerve at crucial stages and restricted Sri Lanka to 97 for 7 at the full quota of 20 overs, and clinched gold by a margin of 19 runs.

Coming to the match, India were the favourites to clinch gold but the Sri Lankan team has given a great fight to stay in the hunt. Young Titas Sadhu impressed everyone with her performance and took the player of the match trophy. However, her potential will be tested in tough conditions like England, Australia and South Africa.

The Indian women’s cricket team has set a new benchmark on the international stage. Their success at the Asian games is a significant milestone for women’s cricket in India and is bound to inspire young girls to take up the sport.