Indian Women’s Cricket Team Retains Asian Games Gold with Record Win Over Sri Lanka

Key facts

• India's women's cricket team retained the Asian Games gold medal by beating Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, handing India its first gold of the 2026 Asiad.
• India posted 216 for three, the highest women's T20I total at the Asian Games across four editions, with Smriti Mandhana scoring 79 and Richa Ghosh making 49 off 22 balls, while Sri Lanka's chase folded for 67.
• Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana became the first pair to reach 4,000 runs in T20Is, while Mandhana completed 11,000 T20I runs and notched her 37th T20I half-century.
• In the semi-final against Bangladesh, 22-year-old Shafali Verma scored her maiden international century, becoming the first woman to do so at the Asian Games, and surpassed Mandhana as India's highest six-hitter in T20Is.
• With consecutive titles, India joined Pakistan (2010, 2014) as the only teams to defend the women's cricket gold at the Asian Games.
• India's nine-match unbeaten run since the 2026 T20 World Cup group-stage exit in June includes a one-off Test win over England at Lord's and the 2026 Asia Cup title, their eighth in 10 editions.
• The Indian men's cricket team will defend its gold from September 28 with a direct quarter-final berth, while the women next play a home white-ball series against Zimbabwe starting late October.