Thursday Sep 19, 2024
Thursday Sep 19, 2024
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Sri Lanka’s Consul General in Shanghai Anura Fernando congratulates Sri Lanka Cricket Women’s Team after their semi-final victory against Pakistan yesterday in the Asian Games women’s cricket
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Udeshika Prabodhani took three wickets to tie down Pakistan to 75-9
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The Asian Games women’s cricket final will be a repeat of the men’s Asia Cup with India taking on Sri Lanka at Hangzhou, China today.
In the semi-finals played yesterday which were both low-scoring matches India beat Bangladesh by eight wickets and Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by six wickets.
Sri Lanka outplayed Pakistan on a slow and sticky surface to advance to the final. Chasing a small target of 76, Sri Lanka took the game to 17 overs to set up the gold medal contest with India who beat Bangladesh earlier in the day.
Opting to field first in the second semi-final, Sri Lanka’s bowlers were all over Pakistan’s batters from the beginning. They were restricted to 75 for 9 in 20 overs with right-arm medium pacer Udeshika Prabodhani starring with three wickets and young offspinner Kavisha Dilhari picking up two wickets. Inoshi Priyadharshani, Achini Kulasuriya and Inoka Ranaweera took a wicket apiece to blunt Pakistan. That only three batters crossed double digits showed how Nida Dar’s side struggled to score.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka got off to a decent start with Chamari Athapaththu using sweep shots to negate the spinners’ turn. After scoring two boundaries, she mistimed a slog sweep to hole out on 14 off 19 balls. Opener Anushka Sanjeewani also fell inside the powerplay for a 13-ball 15 but Harshitha Samarawickrama at one drop stitched a 35-run stand in 51 deliveries with Nilakshi de Silva for the third wicket to ensure Sri Lanka didn’t lose wickets in a flurry. Samarawickrama, despite consuming 41 balls, played a crucial knock of 23 while de Silva’s unbeaten 18 saw Sri Lanka chasing down the target with 21 balls to spare and six wickets in hand.
Pakistan will face Bangladesh for a third-place play-off today.
Scores:
