Win the series. That too against Sri Lanka on their ground. Bangladesh women’s team missed that opportunity with a loss of 7 wickets. The Niger Sultana team batted first against the Sri Lankan women’s team at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground for 100 runs.
The hosts lost 3 wickets with 9 balls to spare. This was the second match in the three-match T20I series. The Bangladesh team won the first match and the series is now tied at 1-1. The two teams will play the series deciding match at the same ground tomorrow.
As usual, Chamira Atapattu, the captain of the team, gave Sri Lanka a great start today. He made the work of others easy by scoring 33 runs off 27 balls. There were 6 fours and 1 six in Atapattu’s innings with a strike rate of 122. The leg-spinner was dismissed in 6.2 overs by Rabeya Khan.
Another opener Bishmi Gunaratne, however, lasted till 10 overs. But he could not open his hands to play. He was the victim of another leg spinner, Fahima Khatun, who scored 12 runs off 17 balls. Neelakshi de Silva also left the field after falling victim to Fahima in the 12th over.
Sri Lanka’s run was then 68 for 3 wickets. Harshitha Samavikrama and Kavisha Dilhari quickly overcame the opponent with spin in the middle overs. The two together secured Sri Lanka’s win in 18.3 overs. Harshitha scored 29 runs off 42 balls, Kavisha scored 20 off 18 balls.
The fact that Bangladesh’s batting is largely dependent on the captain has been proved once again today. Nigger’s innings, who scored an unbeaten fifty in the previous match, was not long today. The Bangladesh team had to suffer from this. Although Bangladesh lost the toss and went into bat, the start was not too bad. Two openers Shamima Sultana and Rubaiya Haider were scoring runs with the ball.
Udeshika Prabodhini broke the pair by bowling Rubaiah in the 18th over. The left-handed opener scored 16 runs off 17 balls with 3 fours. Shamima completed the team’s 50 in the ninth over off Sobhana Mustari, who dropped to number 3. He was dismissed by Inoka Ranabira in that over. Shamima scored 23 runs off 18 balls with 3 fours. Sobhana, who scored 18 runs, was dismissed by Kaya Kavindi.
