Dubai, Sep 14 (IANS) India women’s head coach Amol Muzumdar hailed the Indian team and the support staff after India won the eighth Asia Cup title by defeating Sri Lanka in the 2026 final on Sunday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
India starred in both the batting and bowling departments to avenge their 2024 loss to Sri Lanka and took a 6-1 lead over their southern neighbours in the Asia Cup final record.
Speaking following the 72-run win after India bowled Sri Lanka out for 111, Muzumdar reflected on the campaign and heaped praise on the entire contingent. “Fantastic effort. They showed up from the first game and, fittingly, finished it off strong. Really proud of all the players and all the support staff as well,” Muzumdar told broadcasters after the win.
He emphasised that the batters laid the platform with Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma putting up 129 for the opening wicket to take India to 183/5. “It was a fantastic pitch today, and we came up well. I think our batting was really strong. We started off really nicely, and that’s what we spoke about in the meetings, and the girls went on to execute things really nicely,” he added.
The Dubai pitches have been a bit on the slower side, with run-scoring not that easy. India won the toss for the first time this tournament and opted to bat first on what turned out to be a better surface for the willow-holders.
Speaking on the bat-first decision, Muzumdar said, “I mean, if you see throughout the fortnight, I think the pitches were on the slower side, and they turned quite a bit. So putting the score on the board and then defending it, we did have the luxury of having three quality spinners in our ranks. So I think that was predominantly the tactic: put the score on the board and then go out there and defend.”
He reserved his praise for Shafali and Smriti and hailed the qualities that they bring to the table. “Absolutely fantastic (on Shafali). The left-hand-right-hand combination (with Smriti)… Shafali has got her own style and the firepower that she has, and just the charisma that she has on the pitch just puts the opposition on the back foot.
“Smriti, as usual, she has got that flair, she has got that touch. So they complement each other really well, and I’m glad that they had a good show time today.”
Despite having made 183, India needed to keep Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu quiet, knowing she could still take the game away, as she, Harshitha Samarawickrama, and Kavisha Dilhari did when they chased 166 against India in the 2024 final.
On their plans for the Sri Lankan skipper, Muzumdar said, “We went back to the five-match series that we played in December against Sri Lanka in India, and how we dismissed Chamari, a very important wicket as far as Sri Lanka is concerned. So I thought that was the plan, but I’m glad that Deepti went on to execute it nicely.”
–IANS
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