The Indian women's cricket team won the gold medal in the Asian Games 2026 by defeating Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final match. Chasing the huge target of 217 runs given by the Indian team, the entire Sri Lankan team was all out after scoring 69 runs.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur praised the team's excellent performance throughout the tournament. He especially praised the bowlers. After winning the gold medal, he said, “It's a great feeling. Before the tournament, we talked a lot about going ahead without losing, but what was more important was that we played according to the high standards we set.
It feels great to see how positive everyone approaches every match. Whichever player got a chance, he performed well. As a captain and a team, this is what we wanted – to move forward without losing and to perform consistently.”
He particularly praised the performance of the team's bowlers, saying, “This is what we expected from ourselves and it was great to see everyone turn that vision into reality with full confidence. Our bowling unit deserves special praise because we have worked very hard on it. Young bowlers like Kranti Gaur and Nandini took up big responsibilities and the way they performed, especially in the powerplay, their bowling was brilliant.”
He further added, “Our bowling coach and staff worked very closely with them on this. Apart from the young players, our spin attack is our main strength; bowlers like Shreyanka Patil and Deepti Sharma have been consistent match-winners and are always among the leading wicket-takers. Overall, the blend between experience and new talent was perfect and every player performed well when required.”
While batting for India, Smriti Mandhana played a strong inning of 79 runs. Whereas, Richa Ghosh contributed 49 unbeaten runs and Shefali Verma contributed 48 runs. In bowling, Deepti Sharma took three wickets, while Shreyanka Patil, Shefali Verma and Shri Charani took two wickets each. In the final, the Indian team created history by winning by 147 runs. This is India's biggest win so far in T20 International in terms of runs.