Saturday Sep 21, 2024
Saturday Sep 21, 2024
Thursday, 13 October 2022 00:45 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
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Rival captains Bismah Maroof of Pakistan and Chamari Athapaththu of Sri Lanka face off again in the semi-finals today
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Sri Lanka are confident that they can turn things around and win their Women’s Asia Cup semi-final against Pakistan at Sylhet today, despite losing to the same opponents two days ago in the final round robin fixture.
Sri Lanka finished third in the final round robin league standings which meant that they will face Pakistan (who finished second) once again in the second semi-finals scheduled for the afternoon at 1 p.m. Top of the league India face off with fourth placed Thailand in the first semi-final scheduled at 8:30 a.m. today.
“After our defeat yesterday (Tuesday) we had a discussion and also today (Wednesday). We had a batting meeting and a bowling meeting. The players are very confident that they can perform well,” said Sri Lanka women’s cricket team head coach Hashan Tillakaratne. “This is a very good opportunity for them coming into the semi-finals. Our men’s team won the Asia Cup and the women the Asian netball championships. We need to do our part as well.”
Tillakaratne put down the defeat against Pakistan to poor batting where Sri Lanka managed only 112 off 18.5 overs, not even lasting their full quota of 20.
“We need to be more responsible in terms of batting. Batting really let us down yesterday. We were sitting pretty at one time at 58-2 in 7 overs and we could have easily got up to 135-140. We need to bat properly,” said Tillakaratne.
“Our batters were a little negative in the last few overs. You can’t be too grumpy about the wickets because yesterday’s wicket was perfect. It was good for batting, it’s just that we didn’t bat properly.”
When it was pointed out that even against non-Test playing nations like UAE and Malaysia, Sri Lanka had barely got over the 100-run mark, Tillakaratne responded: “That’s a big concern. Our middle order is not clicking properly. The girls are very skilful but they have to bat responsibly in order to get a big score. 
“Except for the game against Thailand we have been really struggling. We are playing seven good batters and at least two or three will have to get runs. Our bowlers are doing a reasonably very good job.”
One bright spark for Sri Lanka is that the skipper Chamari Athapaththu showed glimpses of returning to form in the game against Pakistan scoring 41 off 26 balls (9 fours).
“Chamari batted with a lot of authority. I hope she will continue with the same form tomorrow (Thursday),” said Tillakaratne. “The processes are very important, we need to control the situations. If we can do that we can get a positive result in our favour. I am very positive the girls will rectify their faults and come back strongly in the semi-finals.”
With the weather in Sylhet being rather dicey, the organisers have left an extra day for the semi-finals to be played to a finish, if a result cannot be obtained after five overs.
