Sri Lanka succumb to resurgent India

Sri Lanka were convincingly beaten by India in the 7th match of the Women’s Asia Cup, played at the Royal Selangor Club, Kuala Lumpur. This defeat means that Sri Lanka will have to win their next game against Thailand and also expect Bangladesh to lose against Malaysia to have any chance of playing in the final.

After failing to chase down Pakistan’s target in the previous game, Sri Lanka Women’s skipper Shashikala Siriwardena won the toss and choose to bat first. Malsha Shehani was handed her Women’s T20I debut at the expense of former skipper Inoka Ranaweera. Interestingly, Sri Lanka fielded a pace-heavy attack while on the other hand India continued to go spin-heavy. Both teams were desperate to win this match after losing their previous matches.

Sri Lanka undone by Maroof and Dar

Sri Lanka were defeated by a resurgent Pakistan..

The in-form opening pair of Yasoda Mendis and Nipuni Hansika failed to give Sri Lanka a good start for the first time in this tournament. The partnership for the first wicket was limited to a mere 12 runs by left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht who got rid of Hansika in the 4th over of the match. Experienced opener Mendis also struggled to get going as she had to face 39 balls for her contribution of 27. Vice-Captain Hasini Perera who was promoted up the order, batted at No.3 and played the anchor role of the Sri Lankan inning. Wickets kept falling constantly leaving Perera to fight alone. The promotion of Nilakshi De Silva (batted at No.4) also didn’t work for Sri Lanka as she became Bisht’s second victim. Debutant Malsha Shehani and skipper Siriwardena got run out in the 14th and 15th overs respectively, pushing the Sri Lankan inning into further crisis. Hasini Perera however managed to guide Sri Lanka’s score pass 100, thanks to the 11-run 17th over bowled by Jhulan Goswami. Hasini Perera remained unbeaten on 46 while Sri Lanka finished their inning on 107 for the loss of 7 wickets.

Bangladesh hand India Women their first defeat in Women’s Asia Cup history

A 93-run stand between Fargana Hoque and Rumana Ahmed..

Chasing down the target was just a cake walk for the Indian Women. None of the Sri Lankan bowlers were able to threaten the Indian batters. The economy rates of every Sri Lankan bowler was above the run-rate required, except for Oshadi Ranasinghe who bowled 3 overs for 15 runs. The only stage where Sri Lanka had an opportunity to perhaps turn the match around was when Ranasinghe got rid of star Indian opener Smriti Mandhana in the 6th over. India had scored just 21 runs at that point. However former captain Mithali Raj, current captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy and Anuja Patil ensured nothing unexpected happened like with the game against Bangladesh where India lost by 7 wickets. India chased down the target in the 19th over losing only 3 wickets. Anuja Patil was named as the player of the match for her all-round performance (1/19 and 19*).

Brief Scores:

SL Women 107/7 (Hasini Perera 46*, Yasoda Mendis 27, Ekta Bisht 2/20)
IND Women 110/3 18.5 Overs (Veda Krishnamurthy 29*, Harmanpreet Kaur 24, Mithali Raj 23)

IND Women won by 7 wickets

Player of the Match: Anuja Patil
Next Match for Sri Lanka: v THA Women – 9th June

Other Results
6th June –
BAN Women beat IND Women by 7 wickets
7th June –
BAN Women beat THA Women by 9 wicket
PAK Women beat MAL Women by 147 runs

Points Table