Udeshika and Harshitha shine as Sri Lankan Women secure medal at Asian Games

The 2nd semifinal match of the Asian Games Women's Cricket Competition between Sri Lanka women's team and Pakistan women's team took place at the Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket Field which decided who would be playing India in the women's final for the gold medal.

 

It is quite noteworthy that both the Pakistan women and Sri Lanka women came off after a series win against South Africa women and England women respectively, which no doubt added confidence to both sides.

 

As the two captains made it to the middle for the toss, the pitch looked quite a dry wicket which offered lot of purchase for the bowlers with a good bounce and the Sri Lankan women's skipper Athapaththu, had no hesitation in opting to bowl after winning the toss. 

 

Athapaththu opened the bowling as Shawal Zulfiqar and Sidra Ameen opened the batting for Pakistan. Athapaththu managed to keep a tight line and length which created few chances in the first over itself, however it was Inoshi Priyadharshani who took the first breakthrough of Pakistan, as Sidra Ameen was caught at backward point by Athapaththu.

 

Achini Kulasuriya and Udeshika Prabodani alongside with the 22 year old Kavisha Dilhari kept a tight line and length which kept the Pakistani women to a score of 18 runs at the end of the 1st powerplay.

 

The Pakistani batting failed to capitalize after the partnership between Shawaal Zulfiqar and Omaima Sohail as wickets kept falling at regular intervals, and the bowlers continued to create pressure by attacking with good lines and lengths and bowling dot balls which took a toll on the Pakistani players. 

 

Pakistan women scored a modest total of 75 runs for the loss of 9 wickets at the end of their 20 overs with Shawaal Zulfiqar scoring the highest runs for the Pakistani innings with 16 runs to her name and the Pakistan wicketkeeper scoring a useful 13 runs as well. Udeshika Prabodhani was the pick of the bowlers as she managed to get 3 wickets for 21 runs in her allotted 4 overs, although a tad bit expensive Kavisha Dilhari got two important wickets in the two overs she bowled as well. Achini Kulasuriya too kept an exceptional economy rate of 1.75 with just giving away 7 runs in her 4 overs and capturing one wicket as well.

 

The Sri Lankan women kickstarted their innings as usual with Athapaththu's fiery shots, as Sri Lanka managed to add up 16 runs at the end of 3 overs. Shortly afterwards, Athapaththu was caught at the deep mid wicket region and Harshitha Samarawickrama came out to bat alongside Anushka Sanjeewani. Sanjeewani too played some beautiful shots to the fence before falling for a well made 15 runs as Sri Lanka put on a total of 33 runs for the loss of 2 wickets at the end of the batting powerplay.

 

Vishmi Gunaratne was unfortunately caught stumped first ball as she danced down the wicket to flick it towards the leg side, and missed out, to be stumped by Muneeba Ali. Harshitha Samarawickrama along with Nilakshi De Silva steadied the Sri Lankan ship and put on a solid 35 run partnership to steer the Sri Lankan team towards a victory before Samarawickrama was unfortunately run out on 23 runs with Sri Lanka having 6 runs left for victory. 

 

Nilakshi De Silva finished the game in style with a six, with 18 runs to her name, to seal the victory for Sri Lanka.

 

Sadia Iqbal, Diana Baig and Umm-e-Hani managed to grab one wicket each for the Pakistani bowlers, but the Sri Lankan women were on top of their game as they won the game with 6 wickets in hand and 21 balls left and advanced through to the Finals of the Asian Games Women's Cricket Competition in which they will play the Indian women's team on the 25th of September. 

 

We congratulate the Sri Lankan women's team for this splendid victory and wish the team all the very best for the Finals.

 

Writer: Nuvantha Abeygunasekara | MoraSpirit