Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has presented the National Women’s Cricket Team with a reward of USD 500,000 in recognition of the victory in the recently concluded Asia Cup T20 tournament.
“In recognition of the phenomenal victory of our Sri Lanka Women’s Cricket team in the Asia Cup 2024, Sri Lanka Cricket is thrilled to announce a reward of $500,000 USD! Your dedication, teamwork, and relentless spirit on the pitch have brought immense pride to our nation,” the SLC posted on ‘X’.
Sri Lanka, on Sunday (July 28), scripted history as they beat India in the final of the Women’s Asia Cup T20 2024 to win the continental championship for the first time in their history.
With the win, Sri Lanka not only secured the championship but also marked a significant achievement in women’s cricket in the country.
The Chamari Athapaththu-led side thoroughly outplayed the defending champions and won the game by eight wickets. Batting first, India scored a competitive total of 165 for 6 in 20 overs thanks to a fine half-century from Smriti Mandhana (60). Richa Ghosh (30) and Jemimah Rodrigues (29) played handy knocks too for the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side.
While 165 looked like a competitive total, Sri Lanka made a mockery of the target. Riding on half-centuries from their captain Chamari Athapaththu (61) and Harshitha Samarawickrama (69*), they chased down the total in 18.4 overs by losing just two wickets.
Sri Lanka were off to a poor start as opener Vishmi Gunaratne was run out for just 1. However. Athapaththu and Samarawickrama shared an 87-run stand for the second wicket to put their team in a commanding position. Samarawickrama and Kavisha Dilhari (30*) then shared an unbeaten 73-run stand to take their team home.
With Sri Lanka’s women’s team registering a historic victory, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has announced a cash prize of $500,000 USD for the team. Earlier, it was reported by Sri Lanka media that SLC would be giving the Sri Lanka women’s team a prize money of 100,000$ but the actual amount turned out to be bigger, in which SLC president Shammi Silva played an pivotal role in recognizing the efforts of women’s team .
Before the win over India to win the Asia Cup 2024, Sri Lanka had suffered heartbreaks in the final on as many as five occasions. On all five occasions, they had suffered defeats against India. They had ended up on the losing side in the final of the first four editions of the Asia Cup.
In the next three editions, Sri Lanka failed to qualify for the final before reaching the title decider again in 2022. Their fortunes did not change in 2022 either as India thrashed them by eight wickets. Sri Lanka finally gave India a taste of their own medicine by registering a thumping victory on their home soil to win the Asia Cup for the first time.
