Asia Cup T20, Match no 10 – SriLanka vs Thailand.
SriLanka won the toss and elected to bat first.
Coming on the back of a 17 off 14 against Nepal Women, Captain Hasini Perera promoted herself and came to open the innings. The decision proved to be a very good decision, as she along with Chamari Atapattu piled the highest partnership of the tournament, scoring 77 runs, surpassing the previous highest of 71 between Bangladesh openers Sanjida Islam and Nigar Sultana, against Nepal.
Chamari Atapattu was the 1st wicket in the 14th over for 31 off 36 (3×4). But Hasini Perera went on to complete her half century before she got out LBW. Both the wickets were picked by Sainammin Saenya, who later picked her 3rd wicket that of the wicketkeeper batter Prasadini Weerakkody in the 20th over.
Both the openers, along with the 13 extras helped the score reach a creditable 120 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs.
In the second innings the Sri Lankan opening bowlers came in all guns blazing, picking up 4 wickets in 6.3 overs for just 10 runs. Udeshika Prabodhani 3 and Sugandika Kumari 1.
By the end of the 10th over Thailand Women were 5 down for just 20 runs, and winning the match was a far cry for them, especially with the top order already back in the hut.
Thailand Women lost the match by a huge margin of 75 runs, but they should feel proud of themselves to have made Sri Lanka women bowl all their 20 overs. Chanida Sutthiruang the highest score of the innings, was the 9th wicket to fall on 36 off 15.5 overs The last pair of Suleeporn Laomi and Rattana Sangsoma together consumed 25 deliveries and remained not out, to gain a moral victory in the match. Thailand innings ended with 45 for 9 in 20 overs.
55 of 59 (3×4) won the Sri Lanka captain Hasini Perera the Player of the match.
This huge victory has propelled the run rate of sri lanka women to a commendable+2.65, and are now on 3rd position on the points table. Their next match is against India, who presently is on the 1st position on the points table with +1.42 run rate. If Sri Lanka women win that match against India women they will replace India for the top spot. A possibility of India being pushed to the 3rd position also cannot be ignored.
The Points table sure promises a lot of action.