Defending champions India will face Sri Lanka in the women’s cricket final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Tuesday, setting up a repeat of the gold-medal clash from Hangzhou 2023.
India will look to retain the title after a dominant run through the knockout stages, while Sri Lanka will attempt to avenge their defeat in the previous Asian Games final. Sri Lanka have followed a similarly convincing route to the final. Shafali has carried that form into the Asian Games. India will also look towards their bowling attack, with Sree Charani and Deepti Sharma among the wickets during the tournament. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will rely heavily on captain Chamari Athapaththu.
The final will be played at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, with the match scheduled to begin at 10:30 AM IST. They defeated Malaysia by 86 runs in the quarter-finals before overcoming Pakistan by eight wickets in the semi-finals. Tuesday’s final will also mark another meeting between the two sides in a major continental final within 10 days. India defeated Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final in Dubai earlier this month, winning by 72 runs after half-centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma. After scoring fifties in the Asia Cup semi-final and final, the Indian opener remained unbeaten on 40 against Japan before producing an unbeaten century against Bangladesh in the semi-final. The experienced all-rounder is the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 146 runs from two matches and has also contributed three wickets, making her a key threat with both bat and ball.
The result has set up rematch of women’s cricket medal fixtures to those at Hangzhou, with India and Sri Lanka contesting the gold medal and Pakistan and Bangladesh meeting in the bronze-medal match.
