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Bangladesh bat first, give opener Ishma Tanjim a debut
Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana won the toss and elected to bat in their opening game of the women’s Asia Cup against hosts Sri Lanka.
“Seeing the conditions it looks good. The ball is coming on to the bat very nicely and we want to put a score on the board. We make this tournament equally important as the T20 World Cup. We want to continue the same way we have played in the last six months,” Sultana said at the toss while also informing that opener Ishma Tanjim was handed her debut.
Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu said that she was looking to bowl first so she wasn’t too unhappy with the decision at the toss.
“We don’t want to take too much pressure, one match at a time. Hope my team will be doing well. We have a good bunch of youngsters and experienced players in our team,” she said at the toss.
This is the fourth game on this Dambulla surface and the pitch is expected to be good for batting. With the square boundaries fairly long, the running between the wickets becomes important here.
Bangladesh, the only other team other than India to win the women’s Asia Cup are coming into the tournament on the back of a 0-5 sweep against India at home. In fact, they are yet to win a single T20I in 2024.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have been faring well in the format this year. They have won nine of their 12 matches in 2024, which includes a 2-1 series win over South Africa in March. They no longer just depend on captain Athapaththu to deliver with the likes of Vishmi Gunaratne and Kavisha Dilhari stepping up.
Sri Lanka Women: Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Vishmi Gunaratne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Hasini Perera, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Kavisha Dilhari, Sugandika Kumari, Udeshika Prabodhani, Achini Kulasuriya, Inoshi Priyadharshani
Bangladesh Women: Dilhara Akter, Ishma Tanjim, Rubya Haider, Nigar Sultana (capt, wk), Ritu Moni, Shorna Akter, Rabeya Khan, Shorifa Khatun, Nahida Akter, Sultana Khatun, Marufa Akter
India’s untested lower order played a key role in turning a modest total into a competitive one. Amanjot Kaur added stability, scoring 21 off 18 balls and putting on a 61-run partnership with Harmanpreet for the fifth wicket, helping the innings regain momentum after regular wickets fell.
After her dismissal, Arundhati Reddy – promoted ahead of Sneh Rana – launched a late assault, hitting four fours and a six off 11 balls for an unbeaten 27, guiding India to 175 for 7. The team scored 32 runs in the final two overs.
With Chamari Athapaththu gone in the second over, Perera and Dulhani faced a daunting task. Dulhani, coming in at No. 3 again ahead of Harshitha Samarawickrama, played a confident innings, coming down the track and sweeping as needed, hitting five boundaries inside the powerplay. Perera rotated the strike well, keeping the scoreboard ticking. Aided by the dew, their 79-run second-wicket stand was broken in the 12th over when Amanjot dismissed Dulhani for 50, with her first ball.
Perera carried on, moving from 32 off 23 balls to register her maiden 38-ball fifty in her 89th T20I. Having debuted in 2014 and shuffled around the order, she opened this series for the first time in three years. When the equation came down to 55 off 24 balls, Perera struck a four and a six off Shree Charani before being yorked. Her 42-ball 65 included eight fours and a six.
When Sri Lanka needed 44 off 20 balls, India fought back hard. The visitors lost their key batters at the death, collapsing from 132 for 4 to 140 for 7, eventually falling short and remaining winless in India.
Brief scores:
India Women 175 for 7 in 20 overs (Gunalan Kamalini 12, Harleen Deol 13, Harmanpreet Kaur 68, Amanjot Kaur 21, Arundhati Reddy 27*; Nimasha Meepage 1-25, Kavisha Dilhari 2-11, Rashmika Sewwandi 2-42, Chamari Athapaththu 2-21) beat Sri Lanka Women 160 for 7 in 20 overs (Hasini Perera 65, Imesha Dulani 50, Rashmika Sewwamdi 14*; Deepti Sharma 1-28, Arundhati Reddy 1-16, Sneh Rana 1-31, Vaishnavi Sharma 1-33, Shree Charani 1-31, Amanjot Kaur 1-17 ) by 15 runs
[Cricinfo]
India’s opening batter Shafali Verma and swing bowler Renuka Singh have moved up to sixth spots in the ICC’s T20I batting and bowling rankings respectively.
Shafali is the leading scorer in the ongoing bilateral series against Sri Lanka by a distance, her 236 runs nearly twice as many as second-highest scorer Smriti Mandhana’s 120. Renuka is also the leading wicket-taker, her four wickets level with team-mates Deepti Sharma, Vaishnavi Sharma and Shree Charani.
Shafali went up four places with back-to-back scores of 69*, 79* and 79 in the second, third and fourth T20Is. Renuka, meanwhile, climbed eight places to reach the joint-sixth position along with South Africa’s Nonkululeko Mlaba, particularly through her 4 for 21 in the third game of the series. Deepti leads the bowlers’ rankings after taking that position last week. Both Shafali and Renuka have also bagged one Player-of-the-Match award each in the series that India lead 4-0, with the last match scheduled for Tuesday in Thiruvananthapuram.
If India win today (30), this will be their third 5-0 series win in T20Is. They won by that scoreline in the West Indies in 2019 and in Bangladesh last year. Sri Lanka have, however, never before lost a T20I series 5-0.
(Cricinfo)
The Cabinet of Ministers granted their concurrence to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Youth Affairs to appoint S. Achchudan of Special Grade of Sri Lanka Administrative Service, who is currently serving as an Additional Commissioner of Elections at the Elections Commission who is
recommended by the panel of interviewers to the post of Director General of the Sports Development Department with effect form 01.01.2026.
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