Credit goes to bowlers, we did not give Sri Lanka easy runs: Harmanpreet on India winning Asia Cup
Oct 15, 2022
Sylhet [Bangladesh], October 15 : With India securing their seventh Women's Asia Cup 2022 triumph here on Saturday, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur gave credit to the bowlers for restricting Sri Lanka to a low total in the final and also lauded the fielding effort of the team.
India crushed Sri Lanka by eight wickets and put up a dominant display with the bat and ball.
"We should give credit to bowlers and the fielding unit was very good today from ball one. We did not want to give them easy runs as every ball is important, proud of the way we performed today. You gotta read the wicket and place the field accordingly. We did that very well and placed the fielders accordingly and that really helped us. We were not looking at the scoreboard and we were just looking at the short targets we had for ourselves and it all worked out well," Harmanpreet Kaur said in a post-match presentation.
Electing to bat first, Sri Lanka could only score 65/9 in their 20 overs. A brilliant bowling spell from pacer Renuka Singh (3/5) in the powerplay reduced Sri Lanka to 16/5. Inoka Ranaweera (18*) and Oshadi Ranasinghe (13) were the only players who could touch double digits.
Besides Renuka, spinners Rajeshwari Gayakwad (16/2) and Sneh Rana (13/2) also bowled well for Women in Blue.
India chased the target comfortably making 71/2 in 8.3 overs. Smriti Mandhana remained unbeaten at 51 of 25 balls and the innings was studded with six fours and three sixes. Harmanpreet Kaur was unbeaten at 11 at the other end.
Inoka Ranaweera (1/17) and Kavisha Dilhari (1/17) were the wicket-takers for Sri Lanka, but they did not have enough runs to defend.
Renuka was named as 'Player of the Match' for her powerplay spell.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka: 65/9 (Inoka Ranaweera 18*, Oshadi Ranasinghe 13, Renuka Singh 3/5) lost to India: 71/2 (Smriti Mandhana 51*, Harmanpreet Kaur 11*, Inoka Ranaweera 1/17).
