Sri Lanka’s women have much to celebrate in humbling defeat at Asia Cup. – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE
Image Source : hindustantimes
Beaten but unbowed, Sri Lanka’s women returned home with a lesson on how the best in the world compete as India cleverly and clinically dissected the challenger to grab the Asia Cup for the seventh time.
Obviously overawed by the occasion, Sri Lanka crumbled under the pressure of expectation and this could have not been more evident than the frantic run outs early in the game that sealed their fate.
Riding on the back of Renuka Singh 3 for 5 and brilliant batter Smiriti Mandhana 51 not out off 25 balls laced with 3 sixers and 6 fours, India dismantled Sri Lanka with consummate ease.
Losing skipper and mainstay Chamari Athapaththu in the third over, the Lankan batting was in all sorts as they stumbled in disarray, then slumped to 7 down for 32 by the eleventh over, 9 for 43 to be bowled out for 65 making the result a foregone conclusion.
India, ranked as one of the best in the world, showed the Lankans the enormous gap between the best and the mediocre teams that make up the rest, and importantly, where the rest of Asia sit in the global rankings.
The Lankans have their work cut out to recover from their setback. They can reflect and address the need for a more professional approach to get themselves to the level of the best.
It certainly marked a appreciable improvement in Asia to their development.
