India women beat Sri Lanka by record 147 runs, clinch gold at Asiad

Nisshin, Japan: India women's cricket team defeated Sri Lanka by a massive margin of 147 runs to win in the final of the Asian Games competition to give their country their first gold medal of the event. The gold helped India move into the top 10 of medals tally.

India won the toss and elected to bat. The first wicket partnership between Shafali Verma (48 off 29 balls) and Smriti Mandhana (79 off 45 balls) yielded 99 runs in 10 overs. That set the platform. Richa Ghosh scored a whirlwind 49 not out off 22 balls to help India reach 216/3 in 20 overs. In response, the Sri Lankans couldn't get going at all.

They lost two early wickets in the powerplay - 41/2. However, their only hope, Chamari Athapaththu was dismissed in the first over after powerplay and they kept losing wickets against the Indian spinners. The Sri Lankans, who had also lost the Asia Cup final to India just 10 days ago, eventually folded for 69 in 15.4 overs.

Deepti Sharma (3/6), Shafali Verma (2/3), Shreyanka Patil (2/9) and Shree Charani (2/13) were the wickettakers.

Pakistan defeated Bangladesh in the third place playoff by 31 runs to win the bronze medal.

Besides the gold in cricket, India have so far won four silver and two bronze -- they have won all four silver medals in shooting. They have a bronze each in Mixed Martial Arts and shooting.

This was India's biggest win Women's T20 Internationals. Prior to this, the biggest margin was 142-run win over Malaysia. 

Tags : Cricket, Asian Games, Gold, India women, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Shreyanka Patil, Shree Charani