The Indian Women’s Cricket Team defeated Sri Lanka in a dominant fashion in the Womens Asia Cup 2026 Final to become the Asian champions for a record eighth time.
The India vs Sri Lanka Women’s Asia Cup final was played at the Dubai International Stadium today. Both teams had come into this game undefeated. India defeated Pakistan, Thailand, and Hong Kong in the group stage before beating Bangladesh in the semis.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka topped their group with wins over Bangladesh, the UAE, and Indonesia before beating Pakistan in the semi-final.
India vs Sri Lanka Womens Asia Cup 2026 Final: How It Played Out
The Indian Women’s Cricket Team won the toss and decided to bat first on a pitch that was kind towards batters. Suffice it to say, it was the correct decision.
The opening duo of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma gave the Women in Blue a flying start. While Smriti played a supporting role during the powerplay, Shafali went on the charge. At the sixth over mark, India had not lost any wickets and had scored 57 runs.
The flow of runs did not stop after the powerplay, with a boundary or two coming in each over, most of them coming from Shafali.
In the eighth over, Verma reached her half-century, cementing her spot as the highest run scorer in this competition. She reached the milestone in just 24 balls.
The runs kept piling up, and so, by the end of the 10th over, India had scored 98 runs without losing any wickets. By this time, Smriti Mandhana had picked up the pace as well.
By the end of the 11th over, Mandhana had reached the 50-run mark as well, taking 35 balls to do so.
The first wicket would fall soon after; by the end of the 13th over, Shafali Verma would lose her wicket. Left-arm spinner Chamudi Praboda. Seeing Shafali come down the track, Praboda shortened her delivery. Verma looked to hit the ball over extra cover but did not get the desired connection and was caught by skipper Chamari Athapaththu at cover for 68 off 39.
This brought Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur to the strike. However, in the very next over, India would lose another wicket, as Smriti Mandhana would be run out after a terrible mix-up. She was dismissed after making a fine of 59 off 39. By the end of the 14th over, the score was 134/2 with two fresh batters on strike.
In the next two overs, only 13 runs were scored. It was clear that the Indians needed someone to start scoring quickly. Richa Ghosh tried taking up that responsibility, hitting a four and a six in the 17th over. But on the first ball of the 18th, Ghosh looked to sweep an uppish delivery by Athapaththu but instead edged it high in the air and was caught for 17 off 13.
Two more wickets fell in the 19th over, as sling-arm pacer Mithali Ayodhya dismissed Harmanpreet Kaur and Bharati Fulmali on back-to-back deliveries. With the score at 167/5 at the end of the 19th, it seemed that India would fall well short of the desired 200-run total, something that was well on the cards by the halfway mark.
However, off the back of a boundary and a maximum by Gunalan Kamalini on the final two deliveries of the innings, India reached an above-par total of 183/5 in their allotted 20 overs.
For the Sri Lankan Women’s Cricket Team, the pair of Imesha Dulani and skipper Chamari Athapaththu opened the batting. But their opening stint wasn’t as successful as that of India in the first innings, as in the fourth ball of the first over, bowled by Kranti Gaud, Dulani was bowled after missing a delivery that was moving in completely; she made a run-a-ball four.
Sri Lanka trudged along for the remainder of the powerplay. And apart from a 12-run fifth over, the Lankan Lionesses did not make more than seven runs in the first eight overs of the innings. At the end of the sixth, the score was 138/1, and the required rate had already crossed 10.
Having hit a four and a six in the ninth over by Prema Rawat, Athapaththu lost her wicket at the hands of Deepti Sharma in the 10th. Chamari tracked down the pitch; Deepti pulled the ball back and spun it away from the batter. The Sri Lankan captain was stumped after making 36 off 32.
And then, before the over ended, Sharma booked her second wicket of the night. Vishmi Gunaratne moved across to dispatch the ball to the boundary rope but was instead met by a quick yorker and was bowled for 20 off 22. At the end of the 10th over, the Lankans were reeling at 63/3, needing 212 runs in 10 overs to win with two fresh batters on strike.
Only 16 runs came in the next three overs, and the pressure of the mounting required run rate got to the batters, as in the 14th over, Harshitha Samarawickrama fell victim to the spin of Shree Charani. Having lost her footing to a flat delivery, Samarawickrama hit the ball right into Charani’s hands and was out for nine off 14.
In the last portion of the game, India, despite showcasing some poor fielding, was well on top of this game. In the 16th over, Shree Charani took her second wicket of the night, dismissing Kavisha Dilhari for seven off five after a brilliant diving catch by Nandani Sharma at short third man.
Charani took her third later in that over, dismissing the settled Nilakshi Silva for 22 off 16. Silva mistimes a sweep on a flighted delivery, edging the ball up in the air and being caught.
Part-time spinner Shafali Verma bowled all four of her overs today. And in her last over, she even took a wicket, dismissing Hasini Perera, who was caught at short third man after a reverse sweep for one off three. By the end of the 17th over, the game had already rolled out of the hands of the Sri Lankan Women’s Cricket Team, as they were stranded at 104/7.
Another wicket came in the 18th over, as Shree Charani took her fourth wicket. Sugandika Kumari mistimed a sweep and was caught at midwicket for one off seven. Then, in the 19th over, Prema Rawat took her first wicket of the night, stumping Mithali Ayodhya for a duck.
On the last delivery of the final over of the game, Deepti Sharma bowled out Sri Lanka by taking the 10th wicket of the innings, bowling Kaushani Nuthyangana for nine off 14.
And just like that, the Indian Women’s Cricket Team defeated Sri Lanka in the Women’s Asia Cup 2026 final by a whopping 72 runs. In just 10 editions of this tournament, this is India’s eighth triumph, establishing their dominance in Asian cricket in the 21st century.
For scoring 68 off 39 and registering figures of 1.23 in her four-over spell in this India vs Sri Lanka Women’s game, Shafali Verma was named the Player of the Match. She also finished this tournament as its highest run-scorer, making 236 runs in five games at an average of 47.20 and a strike rate of 171.01, with three half-centuries.
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