Danodya Sewmini and Limansa Thilakarathna celebrate Sri Lanka’s thrilling last ball victory over Bangladesh
Sri Lanka Women held their nerve to pull off a thrilling last ball win by six wickets against Bangladesh in the Pakistan Women Under19 T20 Tri-Series match played at Faisalabad.
It was Sri Lanka’s first win of the Tri-Series and it set up a gripping contest for the remainder of the tournament with each team – host Pakistan and Bangladesh having one win each at the end of the first set of round robin matches.
The teams will meet each other thrice in the round robin round and the top two teams will play in the final.
Sri Lanka restricted Bangladesh to 119-7, but lost their sixth wicket to the penultimate ball of the match leaving themselves to get two runs off the final ball for victory.
Limansa Thilakarathna kept her cool to score the winning runs much to the delight of the Sri Lankan camp.
Sanja Kavindi top scored for Sri Lanka with a sprightly 48 off 46 balls (4 fours, 2 sixes). Spinners Chamodhi Herath and Aseni Thalagune took two wickets apiece.
Earlier in their opening fixture Pakistan edged out Sri Lanka in a thrilling finish completing their run chase of 125 with an over to spare.
Sri Lanka posted 124-9 in 20 overs, with Nethmi Upeksha top-scoring with 39 off 43 balls (4 fours). Vimoksha Balasuriya contributed 27 off 30 and Pramudi Methsara struck a quick 20 off 13 balls.
Pakistan completed the chase in 19 overs, reaching 125-5. Komal Khan led the way with an impressive 50 off 39 balls (7 fours) and Zoofishan Ayaz contributed 38 off 41.
For Sri Lanka, skipper Chamudi Praboda and Limansa Thilakarathna claimed two wickets each.
Scores
Sri Lanka Women lost to Pakistan Women by 5 wickets: Sri Lanka Women 124-9 (20) (Nethmi Upeksha 39, Vimoksha Balasuriya 27, Pramudi Methsara 20, Mahnoor Zeb 3/18, Memoona Khalid 2/18); Pakistan Women 125-5 (19) (Komal Khan 50, Zoofishan Ayyaz 38, Chamudi Praboda 2/22, Limansa Thilakarathna 2/24)
Sri Lanka Women beat Bangladesh Women by 4 wickets: Bangladesh Women 119-7 (20) (Nishita Akter Nishi 26, Sadia Islam 39, Chamodhi Herath 2/20, Aseni Thalagune 2/12); Sri Lanka Women 120-6 (20) (Sanjana Kavindi 48, Vimoksha Balasuriya 21, Nishitha Akter Nishi 2/26)