Women’s Asia Cup: India seek revenge against resilient Sri Lanka in title clash

It will be spin versus spin in the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup title race. On Dubai’s slow spinner-dominated pitches, seven-time champions India will rely on senior all-rounder Deepti Sharma and explosive openers Smriti Mandhan and Shafali Verma when they take on a resilient Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup T20 final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.The ball dominates the bat to a great extent in this edition. The Indian spinners took 26 wickets in four matches, while the Sri Lankan tweakers took 25. Shafali defied the conditions to become the tournament’s top scorer with 168 runs at a strike rate of 169.69 and an average of 42.00. Mandhana has a score of 154 at 38.50, striking at 171.11.The leading all-rounders from both sides, Deepti and Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu, are the joint leading wicket takers with 11 scalps each. Deepti, the mainstay of India’s attack, followed with 3-26 off 13 six balls in the semi-final against Bangladesh to help India defend 149.With economical left-arm spinner Shree Charani, India’s leading T20I wicket-taker in 2026, and impressive spinner Prema Rawat along with Deepti, India have a strong spin attack by Dubai standards. Deepti is now the leading wicket-taker in T20Is with 179 wickets in 153 matches.Both teams are undefeated, having won all four matches. However, India will be looking to avenge Sri Lanka’s stunning eight-wicket win in the 2024 final in Dambulla, when Harshitha Samarawickrama (69*) and Athapaththu (61) propelled the hosts to a comfortable chase of 166.