Indians retain Asia Cup in great style

Chinthana Wasala in Kurunegala

A healthy total powered by three superb half centuries from the bats of Asha Rawat, Mithali Raj and Rumeli Dhar and a brilliant bowling attack led by Pujare Seema and Neetu David ensured that the Indians retain the Women's Asia Cup Cricket title when they trounced the Sri Lankans by 177 runs in the final yesterday at the Welagedera Stadium in Kurunegala.

Sri Lanka's poor batting performances disappointed the healthy amount of spectators who were gathered at the Welagedera Stadium.

Indians had their reasonably big total for their defence which Sri Lankans could not even come near.

At the start of their innings after they chose to bat, winning the toss, faced an early blow as they lost one of their key batswoman Jaya Sharma who had scored a total of 190 runs in the tournament was sent back for duck. She faced only four deliveries before leaving the field in the second over, caught by wicketkeeper Dilani Maodara off the bowling of Shiromala Weerakkody.

Their opener Karu Jain and Asha Rawat was then involved in a courageous 71 run partnership that lifted Indian total to 75 before the fall of the second wicket. Jain was caught by Chamani Senevirathne inside the 30 yard ring in off a delivery from Sewini de Alwis at 23.

Asha Rawat continued with her outstanding innings and accelerated her strike rate soon after she reached her half century. Her innings included a six which she hit over the mid wicket and added 12 boundaries. Mithali Raj, the Indian skipper too was in good touch to build up another good partnership to swell the Indian total.

Sri Lankan women failed to convert some close chances into catches while the Indians grabbed the best out of that. The opportunity Asha Rawat had in reaching a well deserved century halted when she was caught at the deep mid wicket by Chamani Seneviratne off the bowling of the Lankan skipper.

Indian captain Mithali Raj scored the second half ton of the match in the 44th over. She passed another milestone of her cricketing career when she reached 3000 ODI runs during her innings.

Rumeli Dhar also powered her bat for another half century which came off just 31 deliveries but in the 48th over she departed with a score of 50. After Dhar's dismissal, Lankans sent Amitha Sharma and Priyanka Roy back to the pavilion not wasting much time to finish the 50 overs with 260 for 7 on board.

Shashikala Sririwardena was the most successful bowler for the home team with figures of 4/53.

Sri Lankans faced a terrible blow at the start as opener Dedunu Silva, the player they had most of the hopes kept on, was out for six when the scores reading 9.But then, Lankan Skipper Shashikala Siriwardena and Chamari Polgampola lifted the morale which had gone down for several overs. They batted together till Shashikala departed for 20 runs and the scoreboard showed 2/50.

From there on, Sri Lankans could not play defensively as wickets began to fall at short intervals. After Shashikala's dismissal, no other player succeeded in getting to a two digit score.

Four zeros could be seen at the end of the batting line up. Pujare Seema and Neetu David shared three wickets each to send back the Lankan tail enders.

Minister of Sports and Public Recreation Gamini Lokuge was the Chief Guest at the presentation ceremony and Rumeli Dhar was named the woman of the tournament award while Asha Rawat was named the woman of the match.

SCORECARD

INDIA INNINGS
Karu Jain c Seneviratna b de Alwis		 28
Jaya Sharma c Surangika b Weerakkody		  0
Asha Rawat c Seneviratna b Siriwardene		 97
Mithali Raj c Kaushalya b Janakanthymala	 66
Rumeli Dhar c Weerakkody b Siriwardene		 50
Amitha Sharma lbw b Siriwardene			  5
Julan Goswami not out				  5
Priyanka Roy c Seneviratna b Siriwardene	  1
Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 5)				  8
Total (7 wickets; 50 overs)			260

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-75, 3-166, 4-248, 5-249, 6-258, 7-260. 
Bowling: Shiromala Weerakkody 1/30, A. D. Janakanthymala 1/28, 
Sewini de Alwis 1/48, Shashikala Siriwardene 4/53.

SRI LANKA INNINGS
Dedunu Silva c Dhar b A Sharma			 6
Chamari Polgampola b David			23
Siriwardene c Goswami b Dhar			20
Sewini de Alwis c Goswami b Seema		 6
Eshani Kaushalya b Dhar				 0
Dilani Maodara c Dhar b Seema			 0
Chamani Seneviratna lbw b David			 9
Deepika Rasangika c David b Seema		 0
I. Galagedara lbw b David			 0
Shiromala Weerakkody not out			 8
A.D. Janakanthymala c Jain b Goswami		 1
Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 8)				10
Total (all out; 35.2 overs)			83
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-50, 3-61, 4-61, 5-62, 
6-62, 7-66, 8-67, 9-80, 10-83.
Bowling: J. Goswami 1/28, A. Sharma 1/20, 
R. Dhar 2/11, P. Seema 3/10, N. David 3/11.