Watch: Chamari Athapaththu cries tears of joy as Sri Lanka beat India to win Women's Asia Cup 2024

Sri Lanka led by Chamari Athapaththu defeated India women's team in the final of the Women's Asia Cup 2024 to win the title for the very first time in their history. They won the match by 8 wickets to end their Asia Cup title drought.

Chamari herself played a match-winning knock as her team chased 166 down in 18.4 overs. Chamari Athapaththu scored 61 off 43 balls and along with Harshitha Samarawickrama (69* off 51 balls) laid the foundation for the team's victory.

They lost a wicket early but the partnership between Chamari and Harshita settled the nerves for the hosts. The pair had an 87-run stand in quick time to hold the edge in the contest. Once the skipper was dismissed Harshitha played the sheet anchor role and stayed unbeaten till the end ensuring that Sri Lanka ended up on the winning side. Kavisha Dilhari scored an unbeaten 30 off 16 balls as Sri Lanka won the match with balls to spare.

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This was Sri Lanka's maiden Asia Cup title win. Once the winning runs were scored Chamari Athapaththu was seen in tears as the rest of the players from the squad got busy with the celebrations. In the 2022 edition, Sri Lanka lost to India in the final, and in the 2024 edition they have given one back to them.

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Chamari ended up as the top-scorer in the tournament with 304 runs at an average of 121.50 and a strike rate touching 150. She hit 26 fours and 13 sixes in the tournament, the most by any of the batters. She also picked three wickets and was named the Player of The Tournament.

Meanwhile, this was the second defeat in an Asia Cup final for the Indian team who are proud winners of the Women's Asia Cup title seven times, the most by any team. They previously last to Bangladesh in the 2018 Women's Asia Cup final. The winning run of Harmanpreet Kaur the Indian skipper in Asia Cup 2024 also came to an end with this loss.

The Win Will Inspire Future Generations: Chamari Athapaththu

"I'm feeling happy, I'm happy about my team's performance, especially the batting. Special thanks to Harshita and DIlhari for their performance. It's not a one-man show, the coaching staff has been great and finally we have won the Asia Cup. Special thanks to the Sri Lanka crowd, they supported our girls and I'm really happy. This win is really good for our team, we have to inspire girls in the future, so it's special for Sri Lanka. It's my duty to lead from the front, that's my duty for the country and my team. We talk positive things in the dressing room, the coach and support staff talk positive things in the dressing room, thanks to them," said Chamari on her first major title win as captain of Sri Lanka.

Earlier in the day, Smriti Mandhana's 60 and some lower-order contributions from Richa Ghosh (30 off 14) and Jemimah Rodrigues (29 off 16) helped India post 165/5 in their 20 overs. Some economic bowling from the Lankan bowlers did not allow India to post a challenging score.

Chamari's fifty at the top killed the game as in the end it was an easy victory for Sri Lanka who are now Asia Cup winners.

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