Asian Games: Women in Blue strike first gold for India in Aichi Nagoya

It took the Indian women’s cricket team to strike the first gold for the country in the Asian Games 2026 and it came in an emphatic style at the Karogi Athletic Park in Nisshin, Aichi, on Tuesday, 22 September. Harmanpreet Kaur & Co were ruthless in brushing aside Sri Lanka by 147 runs, whom they beat in Asia Cup final in the UAE only this month, to consolidate their position as undisputed champions of the continent.

The Lankans settled for the silver for the second straight edition after Hangzhou while Pakistan bagged the bronze medal, beating Bangladesh in the third-place playoff earlier in  the day.

The Women in Blue set the tone early when they rode a breezy 79 off 45 balls by vice-captain Smriti Mandhana to reach 216 for three, a total which looked beyond the reach of Chamari Athapaththu’s side on a tricky wicket. However, not many expected the Islanders to fold up for 69 in which the captain was the highest scorer with 29 as senior allrounder Deepti Sharma kept the brakes on with a mingy haul of three for six.

The Asia Cup campaign seemed to have given India the right game time as they did not miss a beat in Japan. For Smriti, it was an unforgettable tournament as she seemed to continue from where she had left off in the Asia Cup—becoming the first woman batter to reach the 11,000-run mark in international cricket across all formats. She reached her 37th T20I fifty in 30 balls as she and the explosive Shafali Varma took India to 99 by the 10^th over before the later fell just short of a well deserved 50.

If Shafali is gradually building a reputation of giving India powerful starts in the powerplay, Richa Ghosh did the job of the finisher again to a nicety as she remained unbeaten on 49 off 22 balls—as the reigning champions were helped along by some wayward bowling to reach 216 for three, the highest team total in women’s cricket at the Games. The previous record was held by Hong Kong China, who posted 202/4 against Mongolia in the quarter-final qualifiers at the Hangzhou 2023.

Athapaththu led the Lankan chase from the front but India managed early breakthroughs through Shafali, who dismissed Imesha Dulani and Hasini Perera in the third and fifth overs, respectively. The canny Deepti, Player of the Tournament in India’s maiden ICC ODI World Cup triumph, removed Athapaththu (29 off 21) just after the powerplay—the wicket taking the wind out of the Lankan sails.

The writing was on the wall thereafter as wickets kept tumbling at short intervals before the Lankan innings ended in 15.4 overs.

Brief Scores: India Women 216/3 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 79, Richa Ghosh 49 not out) beat Sri Lanka 69 all out in 15.4 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 29; Deepti Sharma 3/6) by 147 runs.