Asian Games 2023: CONGRATULATIONS! India Clinches GOLD Beating ‘THIS’ Team At The Women Cricket Tournament! (Details Inside)

India Women won a historic gold medal in cricket after successfully defending 116 runs against Sri Lanka Women. Oshadi Ranasinghe kept Sri Lanka in the chase for the longest time, but her wicket left Sri Lanka with too much to do, as they concluded on 97.8. Titas Sadhu gave India women a fairytale start with the ball, taking up three wickets in two overs and finishing with astonishing figures of 3/6 from four overs. Sri Lanka women were raised to 14/3 thanks to a 36-run partnership between Hasini Perera and Nilakshi de Silva. Rajeshwari Gayakwad's wicket of Perera provided India with a much-needed breakthrough, but the job was done. India then tightened the screws in the final five overs, holding their composure to earn the country's first gold medal in cricket.

This came after India Women suffered another batting collapse in the cricket gold medal final, posting a total of 116/7 against Sri Lanka Women. From 89/1, the squad lost six wickets in the final five overs for just 27 runs. While the pitch was not ideal for batting, IND W should have strived for a higher total. Batting was difficult on this pitch, but Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues fought valiantly against the Sri Lankan spinners. They put on a good half-century stand, scoring 73 runs for the second wicket.

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Shafali Varma and Mandhana both found the early boundaries after IND W captain Harmanpreet Kaur. But Shafali was quickly stumped. Mandhana fell just four runs short of her fifty after a promising partnership, as Sri Lanka struck in rapid succession to eliminate her and Richa Ghosh. From that point on, the wickets of Harmanpreet, Pooja Vastrakar, Rodrigues, and Amanjot Kaur fell quickly for the Indian ladies.

But as Oshadi Ranasinghe, Sri Lanka's last hope, returns after her reverse sweep is safely collected by Titas Sadhu at short third man. Sri Lanka Women are 87/6 and require 30 points in 12 balls.

As Sri Lanka lost their seventh wicket, the final over arrived, and they needed to hit 25 runs. India had an easy time of it. 25 on this pitch is equivalent to 36 on a standard one.

History is being made! The Indian women's cricket team overcame Sri Lanka by 19 runs to capture the coveted Asian cricket gold medal. Fantastic scenes! And this will help to elevate the morale of the Indian women's cricket squad, which has had its fair share of sadness in the past.

The 2017 World Cup final, the 2020 T20 World Cup final, and this year's Commonwealth Games gold medal match, in which they placed second, are all painful examples of coming so close yet falling just short. They performed admirably in each of those competitions, only to fall short at the last hurdle.

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Fortunately, today's victory will alleviate some of that agony. Congratulations and well done, ladies! India is really proud of you! More power to this unit. A bright future awaits for them.