Emerging Women's Asia Cup | Indian Women's team clinch title in rain-marred encounter
Indian women's cricket team won the Emerging Asia Cup by beating hosts Sri Lanka by 14 runs through D/L method. Devika Vaidya and Tanuja Kanwar were at their absolute best as their four-wicket hauls sunk the Lankans, who had been set a revised target of 150 and were bowled out for 135.
India batted first with a view to put runs on the board and add scoreboard pressure on the Lankans. But Indians never got off to that required start as they kept on losing wickets and at one point, they were 80 for 7. Tanushree Sarkar started to repair the early damage caused by Sri Lanka and was given able support by Simran Bahadur.
Sarkar hit a well-made 47 while Bahadur scored 34. Kaveesha Dilhari was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka as she bagged figures of 3 for 27 in her 10 overs. India with some late impetus from Manali Dakshini reached 175 in their 50 overs, giving the bowlers something to bowl at.
If India wanted to win this final, they had to pick early wickets, and that is exactly what they ended up doing. Devika Vaidya and Tanuja Kanwar ran through the Sri Lankan batting order with figures of 4 for 29 and 4 for 15 respectively.
Skipper Harshitha Madavi tried to steer the Sri Lankan ship by keeping one end intact with a score of 39 but could not find any able support from the other end as Sri Lanka got bundled out for 135, losing the Final by 14 runs and handing India the 2019 Emerging Asia Cup title.
India proved to be too strong having remained unbeaten in the competition. Sri Lanka qualified for the finals having edged out Bangladesh thanks to their healthier Net Run Rate.