The Indian women's cricket team sealed their 8th Women's Asia Cup title after beating Sri Lanka in the summit clash of the 2026 edition at the Dubai International
Stadium on Sunday (September 13) by a massive margin of runs. Harmanpreet Kaur regained the title after a rare failure in the continental showpiece event in 2024 when they lost the final to today's opponents. India extended their tally as the tournament's joint-most successful side, with no team apart from them winning the prize more than once. Meanwhile, since the tournament switched to the T20I format, the Women in Blue have won four of the six editions (2012, 2016, 2022, and 2026). The only exceptions were Bangladesh's win in 2018 and Sri Lanka's triumph in 2022, which both came against India in the final.
Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana Shine
Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana were the stars of the show for India as they put up a 129-run opening partnership with the bat after Harmanpreet won the toss and chose to bat first. Shafali made a 39-ball 69 while Smriti scored 59 runs in just 39 balls. The duo's effort helped India post a massive total of 183 on the board.
In reply, the defending champions were given a ray of hope with a 58-run partnership between skipper Chamari Athapaththu (36 off 32) and Vismmi Gunarathe (20 off 22). However, Deepti Sharma dismissed Chamari in the 10th over and triggered a massive collapse as Sri Lanka lost nine wickets for just 49 runs.
Shree Charani was once again the star of the show for India with a four-wicket haul (4-20), while Deepti Sharma (3-19) took a three-for.
More to follow...
