The Sri Lanka Women’s team beat the Malaysia Women’s team by 72 runs in the 14th match of the Women’s Asia Cup 2022, played today (08th October) at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet.
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Sri Lanka Skipper Chamari Athapaththu won the toss for the 4th consecutive time and opted to bat first in their fourth game of the tournament. Sri Lanka made two changes to their playing XI, bringing in Tharika Sewwandi and Malsha Shehani for Achini Kulasuriya and Kavisha Dilhari.
Sri Lanka got off to a poor start with the bat, losing three top order wickets including the in-form batter Harshitha Madavi for 14 runs inside 4.3 overs.
The Skipper Athapaththu and Nilakshi de Silva steadied in the innings, but were unable to convert their starts to big innings as both fell in the 20s. Sri Lanka’s No. 8 batter Oshadi Ranasinghe played a crucial knock at the end, keeping the scorecard ticking, which helped Sri Lanka crossed the 100-run mark.
Ranasinghe was the top scorer for Sri Lanka as she made an unbeaten 23 runs off 18 balls with 2 fours at a strike rate of 127.78. Sasha Azmi and Ainna Hamizah Hashim were the best on show with the ball for Malaysia as they picked up 2 wickets each.
After a poor effort with the bat, Sri Lanka came up with a brilliant bowling performance to restrict Malaysia to just 33 runs. The Malaysian batters could not show up with the bat at all as the experienced Sri Lankan bowlers kept bowling at right lines and lengths.
The Sri Lankan spinners were simply unplayable as they made the ball talk throughout the innings. The left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari started brilliantly with the ball, demolishing the Malaysian top order, claiming 2 wickets up front. Afterwards, the rest of the bowlers complemented her very well taking wickets at regular intervals.
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Malsha Shehani was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka as she managed to claim 4 wickets for just 2 runs in 1.5 overs, registering her career-best bowling figures in the T20Is.
With this win, Sri Lanka move up to 3rd place in the points table, registering 3 wins in 4 games with 6 points to their name. Sri Lanka will take on Bangladesh in their next game on the 10th October at the same venue.
Brief Scores
Sri Lanka Women’s Team 105/7 (20) Oshadi Ranasinghe 23*, Nilakshi de Silva 21, Sasha Azmi 2/10, Ainna Hamizah Hashim 2/23
Malaysia Women’s Team 33/10 (9.5) Malsha Shehani 4/02, Inoka Ranaweera 2/08, Sugandika Kumari 2/11
Result – Sri Lanka Women won by 72 runs
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