First ladies: Powered by Titas, debutants India down Sri Lanka to earn country’s 2nd gold

PTI

Hangzhou, September 25

Rookie pacer Titas Sadhu single-handedly earned the gold medal for the Indian women’s cricket team in its maiden appearance as it defeated Sri Lanka by 19 runs in a low-scoring final of the Asian Games here today.

On a difficult pitch for batting, India struggled to 116/7 but it was just about par score. However, Titas, who is just four days shy of her 19th birthday, bowled a devastating first spell and finished with superb figures of 4-1-6-3 to play a big role in restricting Sri Lanka to 97/8 in 20 overs. She had an able ally in leg-spinner Devika Vaidya (4-0-15-1), who kept a tight leash on the Lankans.

Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad (3-0-20-2) and off-spinner Deepti Sharma (4-0-25-1) started off badly but were on target during the back-end as India always looked in complete control.

This was one gold medal that India were expected to win, but the standard of cricket was pretty poor, and the nature of the wicket didn’t help matters.

“We all had a clear plan of what we had to do. Obviously, we got a good momentum in the first over itself. We had discussed during the innings break that we will keep calm and stick to what we had decided,” said Titas. “The way we came back into the match showed exactly that,” she added. — PTI

Brief scores India 116/7 in 20 overs (Mandhana 46, Jemimah 42)

Sri Lanka 97/8 in 20 overs (Perera 25; Titas 3/6, Gayakwad 2/20)

Jemimah urges men to follow suit

India’s Jemimah Rodrigues today urged the men’s team to aim for the gold after the women’s team created history in the final. “We have spoken to the men’s team. We have told them that we are bringing the gold; you guys also bring it,” an elated Rodrigues said. “(It) feels great. Just to win the gold is special, and being the first Indian cricket side to win the gold will make people go back in history and see that this was the team that actually won the first-ever gold in cricket in the Asian Games. It’s an amazing feeling,” she added.

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#Asian Games #Cricket #Sri Lanka