Women's Asia Cup Final: Harmanpreet Kaur praises team after historic win

Harmanpreet Kaur. Pic/AFP

India Women captain Harmanpreet Kaur praised her team for maintaining high standards throughout the tournament after they defeated Sri Lanka by 72 runs in the final to clinch their eighth Women's Asia Cup title in Dubai on Sunday.

Batting first, India scored a massive 183/5, propelled by a record 129-run opening stand between Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana. In response, India's bowling unit tore through the opposition lineup, bowling Sri Lanka out for 111 in 20 overs.

Shafali set the tone early with an aggressive 39-ball 68, featuring nine boundaries and two sixes, while recording the fastest half-century in Women's Asia Cup history in just 24 deliveries. Mandhana played an equally vital role with 59 off 39 balls. With the ball, Sree Charani produced an outstanding spell of 4/20, supported by Deepti Sharma's 3/19.

Speaking after the triumph, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur emphasised her team's focus throughout the tournament.

"We know they are a great team. But we played to our standards. We set high standards for ourselves and we wanted to keep matching them. Very happy the way we all performed. [On the score] Yes, the openers did a great job for us. The way Shafali and Smriti bat like they did. Great to see someone like Shafali take responsibility through the tournament with the bat and ball." Harmanpreet Kaur said.

Amol Muzumdar praises team effort

Head coach Amol Muzumdar was happy with how the squad implemented the plans on the big final.

"Really proud of all the players and support staff. It was a fantastic pitch today and we came up good. Our batting was very strong. We started really nicely. [On batting] If you see throughout the fortnight, the pitch is a bit on the slower side and it turned quite a bit. So putting on a big score and defending it... we had three quality spinners, so that was the tactic." Muzumdar said.

"[On the openers] Left-right combination. Shafali has got her own style, the power, the charisma, she puts the opposition on the back foot. Smriti has got that flair, they complement each other really well. We went back to the five-match series against Sri Lanka in December and how we dismissed Chamari, who is an important player for them. That was the plan and glad Deepti executed it." he added.

(With inputs from ANI)