India women's cricket team got a bite of gold in their Asian Games debut.
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led team were given a tough fight by Sri Lanka, however, the former managed to put the gold in their medals tally in the end, winning the final versus Sri Lanka by 19 runs.
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Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues take India to respectable total
India won the toss and opted to bat first at the Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field, Hangzhou. India lost their swashbuckling batter Shafali Varma early in their innings as she got stumped on a Sungandika Kumari delivery.
Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues steadied the ship. The duo forged a 73-run partnership, however, the run-rate hovered around six even though India did not lost more than one wicket up until the 14th over.
After Inoka Ranaweera outclassed Mandhana, the Indian innings witnessed a collapse. From 89/1 to 116/7, it did take too long for things to come downhill for India.
Both Mandhana and Jemimah got dismissed in 40s as India finished at 116/7 in 20 overs.
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Titas Sadhu wreaks havoc
Sri Lanka started strong as they plundered 12 runs off the first over, bowled by Deepti Sharma.
However, pacer Titas Sadhu took two wickets in her first over and then claimed another scalp in her following over as the match took a 180-degree turn.
Sri Lanka did make a recovery on the back of two brief partnerships, however, they lagged behind in the run-rate.
The pressure piled on by the Indian bowlers paid dividends in the end as Sri Lanka continued to deviate from the win, losing wickets at regular intervals.
Sadhu bagged the figures of 3-6 in her four overs. India restricted them to 97/8, winning the match and gold medal by 19 runs.
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