IND-W vs SL-W

And that's that — India Women are champions of Asia once again, a record-extending eighth title secured in style, and the wrong of 2024 well and truly righted. A tournament of near-total dominance, rounded off with a performance that left Sri Lanka with nowhere to go.

Attention now turns to the Asian Games, where Harmanpreet Kaur's side will carry this momentum and the weight of expectation that comes with being the continent's benchmark. On this evidence, they'll fancy their chances of adding more silverware to the cabinet — and you can follow every ball of it right here on Sportskeeda.

That's it from me, Pradeep. Thank you for your wonderful company through this final and through the tournament. Do stay tuned to Sportskeeda for all the reactions, reports and analysis from Dubai. Goodbye for now, and take care!

10:50 PM local time (12:20 AM IST): It appears we are witnessing a repeat of what unfolded during last year’s Men’s Asia Cup final. Team India have refused to receive the Asia Cup trophy from ACC President Mohsin Naqvi. The Indian team have made their stance clear, choosing not to accept the trophy from the ACC President.

10:48 PM local time (12:18 AM IST): The presentation ceremony has come to an unexpected early end, with Farveez Maharoof not calling the Indian players up to collect their medals, nor Harmanpreet Kaur for the customary post-match chat. An unusual finish to the proceedings. We’ll wait and see what happened here.

Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka Women captain): [On India’s start with the bat] “When India started the way they batted, it was always going to be very hard for us to win. Sometimes this is part of the game — one team will win and one team will lose. But at the end of the day, I know we didn’t play our best cricket in all three departments. We struggled a lot, especially with our bowling in the powerplay. They played really well, but we will bounce back because we have the Asian Games coming up. We need to improve in a couple of areas and we will bounce back.” 
[On the positives from the tournament] “Apart from this game, we played really good cricket throughout the tournament. We beat a couple of teams and today we struggled a little bit, but it doesn’t mean we are not good enough. We need to execute our plans better, and I hope we can bounce back in the next series as well.” [On the standout performers] “A lot of players have improved and played really good cricket. Harshitha, Nilakshi Silva and Chamari Athapaththu have done some really positive things in this tournament. We will carry all those positives into the next series as well.”

10:40 PM local time (12:10 AM IST): The runners-up Sri Lankan players are now receiving their medals on the podium. A tough night for the defending champions, but they can be proud of the fight they’ve shown throughout the tournament.

10:39 PM local time (12:09 AM IST): The match officials are now on the podium, receiving their mementoes from the guests as the presentation ceremony rolls on. 

10:30 PM local time (12 AM IST): The celebrations continue! BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia and Vice-President Rajiv Shukla are with the team, congratulating the champions. Saikia now presents a medal to Nandani Sharma — a special moment for the youngster after a memorable campaign.

Gunalan Kamlini (India Women): [On being part of the winning XI] “It’s actually something different. I still can’t digest it yet. It’s a completely different feeling, and I can’t really put it into words. It just feels different.” [On her experience throughout the tournament] “Of course. I’m an 18-year-old kid, and there are a lot of seniors here, so I’ve learned a lot from them, especially mentally. There’s so much I can learn from them.” [On her biggest takeaway] “I think the seniors have the same mindset whether they get out for zero or score 100. They have the same mindset, the same laugh and the same smile. I think I can also be like that.” [On what lies ahead] “We’re going for the Asian Games, so we have to get the championship there as well.”

Nandani Sharma (India Women): [On winning her first major title] “First of all, thank you, ma’am. It feels really good. I was injured during a tournament earlier, including the WPL and the World Cup, so this is my first major event title. I’m extremely happy that we’ve won it.” [On her new-ball partnership with Kranti Gaud] “The credit goes more to my teammates and the support staff. They made it very clear to us what we had to do, and we just followed the plan.” [On the upcoming Asian Games] “Our confidence is very high. We’ll focus more on our practice and work on whatever small mistakes we made here. Hopefully, we can improve on those and win the Olympics.” [On Deepti Sharma’s leadership] “Whenever we really need a wicket, she comes in and gets it. We always knew that she would handle the situation. We just had to give the team a good start with the ball.”

Richa Ghosh (India Women): [On winning the Asia Cup] “It feels really great. The fans came out and cheered for us, and that was a fantastic feeling. After getting the result we wanted, it feels even better.” [On India’s total and defending it] “The ball was coming on nicely at the start, but gradually the wicket was getting slower. I think all our batters played really well and we put up a decent total, knowing that we could defend it. If we picked up two or three wickets, we knew we could put them under pressure.” [On her individual contribution] “It’s important for me, but it’s much more important for the team. Wherever I go in to bat and whatever role I’m given, scoring runs there helps the team a lot. So that is very important to me as well.” [On the celebrations] “We’ll see. We’ll all get together and decide what we can do. We haven’t thought about it yet — the game has just finished.”

Amol Muzumdar (Head Coach, India Women): [On India’s overall performance] “All the players and the support staff as well were fantastic. It was a fantastic pitch today, and we came up good. I think our batting was really strong. We started off really nicely, which is what we spoke about in the meetings, and the girls went on to execute things really well.” [On the decision to bat first] “Obviously. If you see throughout the fortnight, the pitch has been on the slower side and has turned quite a bit. So putting the score on the board and then defending it was the plan. We also had the luxury of having three good-quality spinners in our ranks, so that was predominantly the tactic — put the score on the board and then go out there and defend.” [On Shafali Varma and Smriti Mandhana] “Absolutely fantastic. The left-hand, right-hand combination works really well. Shafali has her own style and the firepower she brings, along with the charisma she has on the pitch, just puts the opposition on the back foot. Smriti, as usual, has that flair and touch. They complement each other really well, and I’m glad they put on a good show today.” [On the plan against Chamari Athapaththu] “We went back to the five-match series we played against Sri Lanka in India in December and looked at how we dismissed Chamari, because she’s a very important wicket for Sri Lanka. That was the plan, and I’m glad Deepti went on to execute it really well.”

Harmanpreet Kaur (India Women captain): [On winning the Asia Cup] “We know how much potential we have and that we have a great team. I think we played to our standards because that’s what we spoke about when we came here — that we have certain standards and we have to keep achieving them every day. I’m very, very happy with the way we all performed. The girls have done fabulously well throughout the entire tournament.” [On posting 184 in the final] “Yes, definitely. We all knew it wasn’t that easy to bat on, but I think our openers did an absolutely great job for us, the way they both batted — Smriti and Shafali. Shafali has had a very good tournament, and it’s great to see her taking responsibility and doing the job with both bat and ball. I can’t ask anything else from them. It’s all about playing good cricket, and I’m very happy about that.” [On the support from the crowd] “I’ve been saying that they are our biggest support. Wherever we go, they are always there to support us. In front of them, we always want to play great cricket and hopefully entertain them with our performances. It’s good to see so many smiles and people enjoying our performance, and hopefully we’ll keep continuing that.” [On the team’s performance throughout the tournament] “As I mentioned, we set some really high standards for ourselves and had to match them every day. I’m really happy with the way we all came together and performed.”

9:53 PM local time (11:23 PM IST): India Women Win the Asia Cup 2026!

Inning summary: India 183/5 after 20 overs | Sri Lanka 111 all out after 20 overs

Chamari Athapaththu 36(32) | Nilakshi de Silva 22(16) | Shree Charani 4-1-20-4 | Deepti Sharma 4-0-19-3 

India Women won by 72 runs!

INDIA ARE ASIA CUP CHAMPIONS! A record-extending eighth title, and revenge served in the most emphatic fashion!

Two years ago in Dambulla, Sri Lanka chased down a target of similar magnitude against this very side to lift their maiden Asia Cup crown. Tonight in Dubai, they were given no such invitation. India were relentless from the first ball of the chase, and once the powerplay yielded just 38, the writing was on the wall. Kranti Gaud struck in the very first over to remove Imesha Dulani, and alongside Nandani Sharma she stuck rigidly to her lines, giving the Sri Lankan top order nothing to work with. Chamari Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne tried to construct something, but the boundaries simply refused to come.

Everything, as it so often has in this tournament, rested on Athapaththu. She took her time, waiting for the moment to unleash, but with the powerplay squandered the equation only tightened. Forced to manufacture chances she should never have needed, she eventually played one shot too many and was stumped off a turning delivery from Deepti Sharma — a dismissal that effectively ended the contest. From there it became a procession. Nilakshi de Silva showed brief signs of dragging Sri Lanka back into it, but she was always chasing a game that had long since moved beyond reach.

The bowling figures tell their own story. Shree Charani was outstanding with four wickets, and Deepti Sharma finished the tournament as its leading wicket-taker — fitting reward for a bowler who has been the beating heart of this Indian attack throughout. India's spinners took more wickets than any other side in this competition, and on a surface where the ball came on slowly and timing was a constant struggle, they were simply unplayable.

India will look back at the first innings with a touch of frustration — 200 was there for the taking after Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana's brilliant opening burst, and the collapse that followed felt costly at the time. But 180-plus proved more than enough on this deck, and Gunalan Kamlini's late cameo turned out to be worth far more than it appeared. This has been a tournament of near-total dominance: unbeaten throughout, Shafali the leading run-scorer, Deepti the leading wicket-taker, and a side that has looked comprehensively the best in Asia from start to finish. Harmanpreet Kaur's team came to Dubai to right a wrong from 2024. They have done exactly that, and then some.