Harmanpreet hails collective effort in Asia Cup title triumph

Indian players stressed on the efforts put in all departments for their title triumph in the Women's Asia Cup 2022 following Saturday's eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the final at Sylhet.

India kept chopping and changing their line-up throughout the tournament and suffered only defeat against Pakistan in the nine matches they played on their way to a seventh Asia Cup title.

In the final, they bundled out Sri Lanka for 63 runs with pacer Renuka Singh starring with 3-5 and chased down the target in 8.3 overs with Smriti Mandhana (51 not out off 25 balls) sealing the title with a six.

"We should credit our bowlers. Our fielding unit was good from ball one and we discussed that we should not give away easy runs. You have to read the wicket and accordingly place the fielders in right positions. We read the wicket well and positions fielders accordingly," captain Harmanpreet Kaur said in the post-match presentation.

India lost Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues while chasing a meagre total, but Mandhana's fluent fifty helped them get over the line without further hiccups.

"We were not looking at the scoreboard but only decided our five-over targets. We never thought about what is the total on the board and batted accordingly," Kaur added.

Deepti Sharma, who recently climbed to third among T20I bowlers and allrounders rankings, won Player of the Tournament for her haul of 13 wickets and 94 runs from five innings.

"I am really very happy. The way we did as a unit from the first game through to the final. I applied whatever we discussed. All the time I just back my strength and focus on areas to bowl and that helped me in this tournament," Deepti said.

Renuka managed three wickets from the five matches she played earlier in the tournament, but stepped in the final with a stunning opening spell that triggered a top-order collapse.

"I am very happy because in the last few games I did not bowl well. I worked hard with the coach and it worked. I did not try anything different and just focused on my basics. My whole team supports me, including the captain and coach," Renuka, who won Player of the Match, said after the win.

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu expressed her disappointment at her team's performance in the summit clash and was happy with the way the youngsters stepped up in the tournament.

"Tough day as a team. Not a good batting display in the finals. Really upset today. The next year we have the T20 World Cup (February in South Africa) and we have learnt a lot in this tournament," Athapaththu said.

"I am happy with my bowling unit. We have couple of young players and I hope they do well as a batting unit. We don't have a lot of experienced players but I hope the young players do well in the future," the allrounder added.