Deepti Sharma has 11 wickets at 3.63, and the captain she bowls at on Sunday has 11 of her own
India and Sri Lanka both reach the Women’s Asia Cup final in Dubai with four wins from four. The last time the two met in a final, Sri Lanka won the first title in their history.
Sep 12, 2026
Deepti Sharma has taken 11 wickets at this Women’s Asia Cup at an average of 3.63. That is not a typo. Four innings, 11 wickets, 40 runs conceded in total. The captain she will be bowling at in Sunday’s final has also taken 11.
Chamari Athapaththu’s 11 have cost 5.36 each, which is the second-best return in the tournament and would look absurd in almost any other one. Sri Lanka’s opening batter, the player India will plan around with the bat, is also their joint-leading wicket-taker. That is the shape of the final in Dubai.
Two unbeaten sides, two completely different routes
India have played four and won four, and the margins read 94 runs, 137 runs, seven wickets and 40 runs. They bowled Thailand out for 65, Hong Kong for 56, and Pakistan for 55, the last of those chased down in 8.4 overs. Bangladesh in the semi-final were the first side to make them work at all, and India still won by 40 with Bangladesh finishing on 109 for 7.
Sri Lanka have also played four and won four. Two of them were routs. They dismissed the UAE for 79 and knocked off the runs in 7.5 overs, then bowled Indonesia out for 49. The other two were survived rather than won. Bangladesh pushed them to the last over of a 115 chase, and Pakistan had them reeling in the semi-final before they got home with eight balls to spare.
Whether that matters is the genuine question of the weekend. One reading says India have not been tested and Sri Lanka have, twice, and came through both. The other says Sri Lanka have looked beatable for two matches running and India have not looked beatable at all.
The last final these two played
In July 2024 at Dambulla, India made 165 for 6 with Smriti Mandhana scoring 60, and Sri Lanka chased it in 18.4 overs for the loss of two wickets. Athapaththu made 61. It was Sri Lanka’s first Asia Cup title in any format, and it came against a side that had won the tournament seven times.
India have now reached every final in the T20 era of this competition. They won in 2012 and 2016, both against Pakistan and both by under 20 runs. They lost the 2018 final to Bangladesh by three wickets. They won in 2022, chasing 65 against Sri Lanka. Then Dambulla. Sunday is the sixth final in six editions, and the two they lost were to opponents who were not supposed to win.
Where the match probably turns
India’s top two run-scorers in the tournament are also the tournament’s top two. Shafali Verma has 168 at 42, Mandhana 154 at 38.50. Sri Lanka have nobody in that bracket, which puts the weight of their batting on Athapaththu and on Harshitha Samarawickrama, who dragged the semi-final back from 33 for 4 with a stand of 67.
India’s spin is the harder problem. Deepti’s figures are the headline, but Shree Charani has eight wickets of her own, and this is the third week the same Dubai square has been used for every match of the tournament. Sri Lanka’s answer has been Athapaththu taking the ball herself, which has worked for four matches. It is a lot to ask of one player in a fifth.
The final starts at 8:00pm IST on Sunday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the ground where every match of this tournament has been played. India have lost two finals in the T20 era of this tournament, and the side that beat them in the more recent one is standing in front of them again.