New Delhi. Riding on the victory chariot, the Indian cricket team will clash with Sri Lanka in the Women’s Asia Cup final on Sunday (28 July). Both the teams have reached the final by remaining undefeated in the tournament. The final match will be played at the Dambulla International Cricket Stadium. The Indian team, playing under the captaincy of Harmanpreet Kaur, defeated Bangladesh by 10 wickets in the semi-finals while host Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan to enter the final. Defending champion India is eyeing to become champion for a record 8th time. The final will be played on 28 July from 3:00 pm Indian time.
India has performed brilliantly so far in the tournament. In the league stage, it defeated Pakistan by 7 wickets, United Arab Emirates by 78 runs and Nepal by 82 runs. In the semi-finals, it defeated Bangladesh by 10 wickets. India’s top order batsmen and bowlers have performed very well so far. They have not given any chance to their rival teams so far.
Shefali- Mandhana has given a good start so far
Openers Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma have given the team a good start so far. But the team management will be very happy with the performance of the bowlers, especially Deepti Sharma and Renuka Singh. Deepti has taken the highest number of 9 wickets in the tournament so far while Renuka is third in the table with seven wickets. The economy rate of both of them is also excellent, which means that they have not given the opposition batsmen a chance to play freely.
Both teams have not lost a single match in the current tournament
Other Indian bowlers have also benefited from the tight bowling of these two. Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav is an example of this, who has so far taken 6 wickets at an economy rate of 5.5. No department is a matter of concern for the Indian team, but captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemima Rodrigues may be a little worried due to less opportunities to bat. On the other hand, Sri Lanka has also remained undefeated so far. It has also achieved the biggest victory in terms of runs in the tournament. Sri Lanka defeated Malaysia by 144 runs in the group stage.
Indian bowlers need to get Chamari Atapattu out quickly
Sri Lankan captain Chamari Atapattu has performed brilliantly so far. She has scored 243 runs so far but apart from her, no other Sri Lankan batsman has reached 100 runs. If India has to register a win, then it will have to curb the Sri Lankan captain. Sri Lankan bowlers will be put to a tough test in front of India’s strong batting order. Except off-spinner Kavisha Dilhari (seven wickets), other Sri Lankan bowlers have failed to make an impact so far.
India’s playing 11 will be selected from these: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice Captain), Shefali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (Wicket Keeper), Uma Chhetri (Wicket Keeper), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Shobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sajana Sajeevan.
Sri Lanka: Chamari Atapattu (Captain), Anushka Sanjeewani, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Hasini Perera, Ama Kanchana, Udeshika Prabodhani, Vishmi Gunarathne, Kavya Kavindi, Inoshi Priyadarshini, Sugandhika Kumari, Achini Kulasuriya, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi De Silva, Sachini Nissansala, Shashini Gimhani.
Tags: asia cup, Harmanpreet Kaur, India vs Sri Lanka
FIRST PUBLISHED : July 27, 2024, 15:35 IST