India Win Record 8th Women's Asia Cup as Shafali-Mandhana Shatter Opening Stand Record

India won a record eighth Women's Asia Cup title, beating Sri Lanka by 70 runs in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, powered by a record-breaking opening stand between Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana.

Batting first, the pair put together a 129-run opening partnership, the highest in Women's Asia Cup history, surpassing the previous record of 128 set by Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma against the UAE in 2022. It also stands as the highest opening stand in the final of any women's T20I tournament ever played. Shafali was the standout, smashing 68 off 39 balls with nine fours and two sixes, reaching her fifty in just 24 balls, the fastest half-century in Women's Asia Cup history, beating Mandhana's own record of a 25-ball fifty from the 2022 edition. Mandhana added a fluent 59 off 39 balls at the other end, as India posted 183 for 5.

Sri Lanka's reply never got going, with Shree Charani the pick of the bowlers, taking 4 for 20 in her four overs, ably supported by Deepti Sharma's 3 for 19, as the defending champions were bowled out well short of the target.

The win crowns a dominant tournament for Shafali, who finished as the leading run-scorer with 236 runs in five innings at an average of 47.20 and a strike rate of 171.01, registering three fifties, the joint-most in a single edition alongside Sri Lanka's Chamari Athapaththu. It also extends the remarkable partnership numbers for Mandhana and Shafali, who have now amassed 3,909 runs together in Women's T20Is, the most by any pair in the format's history.