Harshitha Samarawickrama couldn't control her tears after Sri Lanka won their maiden women's Asia Cup 2024 after beating India on Sunday at the Dambulla Rangiri International Stadium. With the entire Sri Lankan team roaring and celebrating, Samarawickrama succumbed to tears as a video of the same surfaced on social media.
Sri Lanka did a promising job to restrict the defending champions to 165 in 20 overs as Smriti Mandhana stood out with 60 off 47 deliveries for India. Nevertheless, the home side didn't have the desired start to their run-chase, losing Vishmi Gunaratne in the 2nd over of the innings for a single.
Nevertheless, Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu controlled the innings with timely boundaries and scoring at an excellent clip. The Women in Blue hit back with Athapaththu's scalp in the 12th over of the innings as Deepti Sharma bowled her around her legs. While it seemed like the tourists had the match in their hands, Samaramwickrama and Kavisha Dilhari had other ideas. The latter smacked a six in the form of winning runs, making the Sri Lankan team delirious.
"I had failed in the past but very happy today" - Harshitha Samarawickrama
Samarawickrama, who earned the Player of the Match award for her unbeaten 69, said after the match that she wanted to make up for the two catches. The 26-year-old underlined that she wanted to play positively after Sri Lanka lost their captain.
"I am very happy that I scored in this game. It's a great feeling. In the field I missed two catches, but even at that time, I thought to myself that no matter how many runs India score, I will make sure I hunt them down. I was able to stay there till the end and do that. I had failed in the past but very happy today. When Chamari was out, I wanted to play positive cricket with Kavisha and it worked out well in the end. I am very thankful to the coach that he gave me the freedom to play."
