Big picture – Can Sri Lanka expose India’s middle order?
Sri Lanka know what happens when India are allowed to dictate a game. Their best chance in Nagoya may come from putting India under pressure early on, and whether that’s with bat or ball will depend on which way the coin falls at the toss.
Should the game be a washout, like the men’s final in 2023 was, the higher-seeded team (India) will take the gold medal.
India WWWWW (last five completed T20Is)
Sri Lanka WWLWW
In the spotlight: Athapaththu and Shafali
The two most destructive batters on either side could have an outsize influence on the final. Athapaththu has smacked 63 and 83 not out in her two outings at these Asian Games while also returning figures of 2 for 3 and 1 for 30. Shafali had scores of 64 and 68 in her last two outings before the Asian Games, and has followed those up with unbeaten scores of 40, in a chase of 57 against Japan, and 100 against Bangladesh. Given the dimensions of the ground in Nisshin, either could quickly take the final away from the opposition.
Both teams have fully fit squads, and fielded their first-choice XIs in the semi-finals.
India (probable): 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Shafali Verma, 3 G Kamalini, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Bharti Fulmali, 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Shreyanka Patil, 9 Kranti Gaud, 10 N Shree Charani, 11 Nandani Sharma.
Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Imesha Dulani, 2 Chamari Athapaththu (capt), 3 Hasini Perera, 4 Kavisha Dilhari, 5 Harshitha Samarawickrama, 6 Hansima Karunaratne, 7 Kaushini Nuthyangana (wk), 8 Rashmika Sewwandi, 9 Mithali Ayodhya, 10 Chamudi Praboda, 11 Sugandika Kumari.
