A distraught Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted there is still a lot of room for improvement before the upcoming T20 World Cup and her team will not soon forget their humiliating defeat to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final on Sunday.

India scored a respectable 165 for 6 but rivals Chamari Athapaththu (62) and Harshitha Samarawickrama (69 not out) were fierce against the visiting bowlers and ended the match in 18.4 overs.

The Women’s T20 World Cup will be held in Bangladesh later this October.

“We want to improve in some areas. We will definitely work hard and remember this day. They have played such good cricket for so long and they have played good cricket in this tournament,” Harmanpreet said at the presentation ceremony after the match on Sunday.

READ MORE: Chamari and Harshitha lead Sri Lanka to historic 8-wicket win over India to claim maiden Women’s Asia Cup title

She admitted that her team’s bowling did not go according to plan and that there were hardly any breakthroughs.

“We played good cricket throughout the tournament and we certainly made a lot of fumbles today which cost us.

“It was a decent total, we were looking for breakthroughs in the powerplay but it didn’t go to plan and Sri Lanka batted really well,” the Indian captain added.

Her Sri Lankan counterpart Athapaththu was elated after the island nation’s first major success in international women’s cricket.

“I am very happy with our team’s performance, especially the batting performance, especially Harshitha and Dilhari.

“We’ve played some really good cricket over the last 12 months and we want to continue that. We’ve never seen a crowd like this before, so a special thanks to the Sri Lankans who came to watch the game.

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“This win is not only good for the team but for Sri Lanka as a whole as we need to inspire the next generation,” said Chamari.

Athapaththu played the most important stroke of her life when she led the chase.

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“I have to lead, that’s my duty for my country. We always talk about positive things in the dressing room, for which the credits go to the head coach and the support staff. Our next target is the (T20) World Cup,” she concluded.

“This win is not only good for the team but for Sri Lanka as a whole as we need to inspire the next generation,” said Chamari.

Athapaththu played the most important stroke of her life when she led the chase.