Sri Lanka Women got their campaign in the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 off to a victorious start with a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh Women on Saturday, July 20 at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla. After opting to bat first, Bangladesh were restricted to 111/8 in their allotted 20 overs with captain captain Nigar Sultana holding the innings together with a gritty innings of 48* (59). In reply, Sri Lanka chased down the target in 17.1 overs with opener Vishmi Gunaratne top-scoring with 51 (48).
Sri Lanka’s chase got off to a steady start with openers Gunaratne and captain Chamari Athapaththu adding 32 runs for the first wicket. After losing her opening partner, Gunaratne held one end and scored a brilliant half-century to bring her team into a commanding position.
She was well supported by Harshitha Samarawickrama (33 off 31) as the duo added 54 runs for the second wicket. Following their dismissals, Kavisha Dilhari (12* off 8) and Hasini Perera (1* off 4) saw their team home with 17 balls to spare. Nahida Akter picked all three wickets to fall in Sri Lanka’s innings registering figures of 3/12 in four overs.
Earlier in the day, Bangladesh opener Dilara Akter began her team’s innings in a grand fashion with a boundary off the very first ball of the match against Udeshika Prabodhani (2/20). However, the Sri Lankan seamer answered in some style by shattering Akter’s stumps on the third ball to give first success for her side.
Shrona Akter gives perfect finish to Bangladesh’s innings
Prabodhani further got rid of Rubya Haider for a golden duck courtesy of a spectacular catch by Nilakshi de Silva at cover point. Ishma Tanjim also failed to trouble the scorers falling prey to Inoshi Priyadharshani (2/17) as Bangladesh lost their third wicket on the score of six. Captain Sultana walked in to bat at number four and rotated the strike as wickets continued to fall from the other end.
She got involved in a run-a-ball 31-run stand with Shorifa Khatun (5 off 13) where she did bulk of the scoring to take her team’s score past 40. Sultana got some support from Shorna Akter down the order who smacked quick fire 25 off 14 with the help of five boundaries. As a result, Bangladesh finished their innings on 111/8 in 20 overs.
Meanwhile, having lost their opening game, Bangladesh will look to bounce back against Thailand in the second encounter on Monday, July 22. On the other hand, Sri Lanka will look to continue their winning momentum against Malaysia on the same day.