By Julian Linden
OCA Media
Nagoya, Japan, September 22, 2026: India’s unstoppable women cricketers delivered a masterclass in power hitting to claim their country’s first gold medal at the 20th Asian Games by successfully defending the title they won at Hangzhou 2022.
In a repeat of the Hangzhou final, India proved far too strong for a gallant but outclassed Sri Lankan side as they cruised to a resounding victory at a sun-splashed Korogi Athletic Park.
India’s top order batters went on the rampage from the opening ball to amass a record total of 216-3, the highest score by a women’s team at any Asian Games.
By the time they completed their 20 overs, the Indians had struck 18 fours and 13 sixes and the contest was as good as over.
India’s bowlers then finished the job by ripping through the Sri Lankan lineup in less than 16 overs, restricting their opponents to 69 to complete a 147-run victory.
“It’s a great feeling. We knew this morning if we win then we are going to be the first one who’s going to win the gold medal,” India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said.
“It means a lot to us, and we’re really happy that we have opened the gate now, and hopefully we’ll see many more golds coming up.
“That’s why we came to Japan. We have been waiting for this day. We have been waiting to get the medal because we know the team we have and somehow we knew we deserve the gold medal. So it was good to see everybody came together and performed so well for the team.”
Two days after she became the world’s leading run scorer in women’s T20 internationals, Smriti Mandhana showed everyone why she is the most destructive batter in the women’s game.
In an awesome display, Mandhana clubbed 79 off 44 deliveries, featuring five boundaries and seven sixes, before holing out at deep backward square leg when she seemed set for a hundred.
Mandhana shared an opening wicket partnership of 99 with Shafali Verma that set the tone for the one-sided match. Verma blasted 48 from just 29 deliveries before throwing her wicket away when she mistimed a reverse sweep.
“It feels amazing. We’ve seen other athletes win gold, and we’ve seen all of those things on TV. But it’s nice to be on the podium and see the national flag going away,” Mandhana said.
Even after Mandhana and Verma were dismissed there was still no let up for the Sri Lankans bowlers as Richa Ghosh pounded an unbeaten 49 off 22 balls with the Indians adding 25 off the last over.
Faced with a near impossible chase, Sri Lanka were never in the hunt once their trailblazing skipper Chamari Athapaththu departed for 29 as only two of her teammates reached double figures.
“The margin was massively wide because of bowling first and not executing what we wanted to do,” Sri Lanka coach Jamie Siddons said.
“We felt like we could chase 150, 160 on that wicket. But a 200-plus target was way out of our range once Chamari got out. She’s probably the player that needs to make 100 if we’re going to have a chance.”
Athapaththu agreed with her Australian coach that her side needed to lift across the board to challenge the sport’s superpowers.
“We need to improve some areas, especially power hitting and our bowling too before we play against top nations like India,” she said.
“These are the top nations in women’s cricket. If we want to beat those kinds of teams, we need to improve our batting, especially power hitting.”
