Sri Lanka clinched a comfortable 44-run win over the visiting Bangladesh side in the 3rd and final T20I between the teams at the SSC, earlier today.
The hosts’ skipper Chamari Athapaththu once again got them off to a flier after winning the toss and opting to bat first, racing to 32 off 23 deliveries – a knock that included 3 four and 2 sixes. However, yet again fell after getting a start, leaving Harshitha Samarawickrama to rebuild, with Sri Lanka stumbling to 56/3 in 9.1 overs.
The Bangladeshi bowlers kept things tight, but Samarawickrama still managed to keep going at quicker than a run a ball, finding the odd boundary to go along with some good running. Nilakshi de Silva took a while to get going at the other end and at one point it did look like the hosts would finish with a total in the 110-120-run range.
With 105 on the board after 17 overs, de Silva unleashed in the 18th, smashing a six and a four off Nahida Akter, before Samarawickrama finished the over with another boundary, making it 17 runs in total in that over.
The 19th over was relatively quieter, but the pair still managed to sneak 12 runs off Fahima Khatun before de Silva took apart Jahanara Alam in the last over. Alam had had a recent day with the ball until that point, conceding 20 off her 1st three overs, but de Silva smashed 6,6,4,6 off the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th deliveries to see the last over go for 24, taking Sri Lanka to a formidable 158.
Samarawickrama went to her 4th T20I half century, while this was de Silva’s 1st 50 in International Cricket; she went to the landmark with back-to-back sixes off Alam. The pair’s 102-run partnership is the 2nd highest for the Sri Lanka Women in T20Is, only eclipsed by their own 104 against the same opposition earlier this year, during the T20 World Cup.
The chase got off to a slow start, with Rubya Haider falling for a duck and the visitors only managing 6 runs off the 1st 3 overs.
158 was always going to be an uphill task for the Bangladeshis and a lot depended on in form batters Shobhana Mostery and skipper Nigar Sultana. The pair top-scored for Bangladesh, but the disciplined bowling from Sri Lanka meant they just could not score fast enough to really threaten Sri Lanka at any point.
It was game over for the visitors when Udeshika Prabodhani and Kawya Kavindi picked up Murhsida Khatun and Nigar Sultana in consecutive overs, the rest of the batters just batting out the 20 overs to finish on 114/7.
Nilakshi de Silva was named Player of the Match for her onslaught that pushed Sri Lanka to a winning total, while Harshitha Samarawickrama was rewarded for her outstanding consistency throughout the series with the Player of the Series award.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chamari Athapaththu | c Fargana Hoque Pinky b Nahida Akter | 32 | 23 | 3 | 2 | 139.13 |
| Vishmi Gunaratne | c Fahima Khatun b Rabeya Khan | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Harshitha Samarawickrama | not out | 51 | 42 | 6 | 0 | 121.43 |
| Anushka Sanjeewani | lbw b Fahima Khatun | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Nilakshi de Silva | not out | 63 | 39 | 4 | 4 | 161.54 |
| Extras | 6 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 0, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 158/3 (20 Overs, RR: 7.9) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jahanara Alam | 4 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 11.00 | |
| Sanjida Akter Meghla | 4 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 5.50 | |
| Rabeya Khan | 4 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 5.00 | |
| Nahida Akter | 4 | 0 | 37 | 1 | 9.25 | |
| Fahima Khatun | 4 | 0 | 31 | 1 | 7.75 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fargana Hoque Pinky | lbw b Kawya Kavindi | 10 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Rubya Haider | b Sugandika Kumari | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Sobhana Mostary | c Oshadi Ranasinghe b Inoka Ranaweera | 30 | 25 | 2 | 2 | 120.00 |
| Nigar Sultana | b Kawya Kavindi | 31 | 33 | 2 | 0 | 93.94 |
| Murshida Khatun | st Anushka Sanjeewani b Udeshika Prabodhani | 8 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 57.14 |
| Ritu Moni | c Kavisha Dilhari b Inoka Ranaweera | 11 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 122.22 |
| Nahida Akter | b Udeshika Prabodhani | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 55.56 |
| Fahima Khatun | not out | 9 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 150.00 |
| Rabeya Khan | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 9 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 0, w 5, pen 0) |
| Total | 114/7 (20 Overs, RR: 5.7) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Udeshika Prabodhani | 4 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 4.25 | |
| Sugandika Kumari | 4 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 4.75 | |
| Kawya Kavindi | 4 | 0 | 28 | 2 | 7.00 | |
| Oshadi Ranasinghe | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 7.50 | |
| Inoka Ranaweera | 4 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 4.25 | |
| Kavisha Dilhari | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 7.00 | |
