India have won their first gold medal at the 2026 Asian Games, with the women’s cricket team beating Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final on Tuesday.
India won the toss and decided to bat first in the gold medal match. Smriti Mandhana led the way with a brilliant 79 off 45 balls, hitting five fours and seven sixes.
Shafali Verma also played an important knock, scoring 48 runs off 29 balls with three fours and three sixes.
Richa Ghosh then finished strongly, remaining unbeaten on 49 off just 22 balls, including six fours and three sixes. India finished their 20 overs on 216/3, leaving Sri Lanka with a target of 217 runs to win the gold medal.
However, Sri Lanka’s chase never got going. They were bowled out for just 69 runs in 15.4 overs, losing the final by 147 runs.
Chamari Athapaththu top-scored for Sri Lanka with 29 runs, while Kaushini Nuthyangana made 14 and Kavisha Dilhari scored 11. Four Sri Lankan batters were dismissed without scoring.
Deepti Sharma was India’s leading wicket-taker with three wickets. Shree Charani, Shafali Verma and Shreyanka Patil picked up two wickets each.
The win gives India their second consecutive women’s cricket gold medal at the Asian Games. India had also won gold at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou under Harmanpreet Kaur.
Sri Lanka settled for the silver medal, while Pakistan won the bronze medal after finishing third in the women’s cricket competition.
The gold was India’s first medal of the 2026 Asian Games and took the country’s overall medal tally to seven, with one gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
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