Women’s Asia Cup: Smriti Mandhana earns crucial reprieve as Harshitha Samarawickrama commits stunning blunder in final

The Women’s Asia Cup 2024 final saw 26-year-old Sri Lankan batter Harshitha Samarawickrama make a crucial error on the third delivery of the fifth over when she dropped a sitter delivered by Indian great Smriti Mandhana.

The Lankans bowled beautifully, keeping the Indian openers to a score of less than a run-a-ball until the fourth over. The Indian innings had started slowly after choosing to bat first.

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Smriti Mandhana lofted a full-length ball to cover on the third delivery of the fifth over, which was bowled by off-spinner Kavisha Dilhari.

Harshitha only had to take a few steps back to complete the catch, breaking the opening partnership. She completely blew the easy opportunity, though, and remained stunned on the pitch at her error. The skipper, Chamari Athapaththu, was evidently surprised as well, and the cameras panned to him right away.

When Smriti Mandhana came out and lofted a shot at cover-point on the very next delivery, Harshitha and her team’s pain and regret increased. When the ball landed just short of her, the fielder positioned there handled it incorrectly, allowing it to speed towards the boundary and raise the score to 30/0 in just 4.4 overs.

Mandhana took full advantage of the next over, blasting three boundaries and undercutting Sri Lanka’s efforts up to that moment, adding to their problems. The Sri Lankan side’s condition was considerably made worse by this string of events.

Also Read: Women’s Asia Cup 2024 Finals: India suffers painful defeat as Sri Lanka wins its maiden title

In the 14th over of the innings, Mandhana got her fifty and carried on with her dominant play till the captain herself ended her magnificent innings with a well-executed running catch in the deep. Mandhana’s valuable wicket was given to Dilhari with this dismissal, something that could have been done much earlier in the game.