Right-arm seamer Panna Ghosh rattled the Sri Lanka Women cricket team with a five-wicket haul as Sri Lanka lost their semi-final encounter by 25 runs against Bangladesh Women in the XVII Asian Games match at Incheon, Korea.
Bangladesh skipper Salma Khatun won the toss of coin and elected to bat first. Bangladeshi women lost few early wickets as they were 24/2 after 6 overs with the Lankan lasses started off brightly. 3rd wicket pair of Fargana Hoque and Lata Mondal resurrected the Bangladesh innings as they put on 29 runs but the strike-rate was pretty slow with Lankan bowlers dominating on a slow surface. Fargana was dismissed for 22 by off-spinner Shashikala Siriwardene and in-form Lata Mondal was joined by her skipper Salma Khatun as they put on a valuable 37 runs for the 4th wicket.
At the end of the 20-over mark, Bangladesh Women posted 95 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Lata Mondal was most impressive batswomen as she was unbeaten on 34 in 43 balls with a boundary to her name. Lankan bowlers were quite economical as almost every bowler went below 6 runs per over.
Chasing 96 runs to book their place in the finals, Sri Lanka Women lost wickets at regular intervals from the start of their innings as they failed to gather momentum. Panna Ghosh was brilliant with the white-ball as she shackled the Lankan batting lineup capturing 5 wickets for only 10 runs in her 4 overs. Only two players crossed the double-digits as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 70 runs with 10 balls to spare. Experienced Shashikala Siriwardene scored 15 runs while Chamari Polgampola made 11 runs.
Bangladesh Women will take on Pakistan Women in the gold-medal encounter while the Sri Lanka Women will have to tackle the unseeded Chinese Women in the bronze-medal match tomorrow (26th September) at the same venue.
Chief Scores:
Bangladesh Women – 95/4 in 20 overs: Lata Mondal 34*, Fargana Hoque 22, Shashikala Siriwardene 1/16, Chandima Gunaratne 1/11.
Sri Lanka Women – 70 all out in 18.2 overs: Shashikala Siriwardene 15, Chamari Polgampola 11, Panna Ghosh 5/10, Rumana Ahmen 2/11.
