Prabodhani, Gunaratne help Sri Lanka cruise past Bangladesh

An excellent all-round show from Sri Lanka in the field, backed up by Vishmi Gunaratne's steady half-century, helped Sri Lanka start their Women's Asia Cup 2024 in style as they beat Bangladesh by seven wickets in Dambulla.

After Bangladesh elected to bat, everything that could have gone wrong for them did as they lost four wickets inside the powerplay. It needed captain Nigar Sultana playing an anchor role and some lower-order hitting from Shorna Akter, who smashed 25 off 14 balls, to take Bangladesh to 111 for 8.

In the chase, Sri Lanka lost their captain Chamari Athapaththu early, but as they have shown time and again this year, they are no longer a one-woman team. Gunaratne, who is having a stellar 2024, continued her excellent form and smashed her third T20I half-century, all three coming this year. She got good support from Harshitha Samarawickrama as Sri Lanka got over the line with 17 balls to spare. That meant Bangladesh's winless run in T20Is in 2024 extended to nine.

It started on a bright note for Bangladesh with Dilara Akter lofting Udeshika Prabodhani for a straight four first ball. But, it all went downhill from there. Two balls later Prabodhani went fuller, getting the ball to tail back and leaving Dilara's stumps in a mess. The very next ball she had Rubya Haider chipping a drive meekly to the right of cover-point where Nilakshika Silva took an excellent catch running back and diving sideways.

Ishma Tanjim's debut lasted all of three balls when she gave a simple catch to backward point off Inoshi Priyadharshani. In just nine balls, Bangladesh had slipped to 8 for 3 which soon became 17 for 4 in the sixth over courtesy of a stunning return catch from Priyadharshani. Ritu Moni jumped down the track and smashed a length ball hard to Priyadharshani's right. But she stretched her right hand to grab the ball and kept hold of it even when her elbow hit the turf. Moni was left flabbergasted as Bangladesh's powerplay ended on 18 for 4.

The responsibility to take Bangladesh forward was on Nigar's shoulders. She started slow, her first 18 balls yielded only six runs. Bangladesh reached 46 for 4 after ten overs and the pressure brought about Shorifa Khatun's downfall. Athapaththu, sensing her willingness to break the shackles, kept a length ball slow on off stump. Shorifa took the bait eyeing an across-the-line hack only to see her off stump disturbed.

Rabeya Khan got off the mark with a four but was soon sent back trapped plumb in front of the stumps by Sugandika Kumari for 10. At 67 for 6 after 15, Bangladesh's chances of reaching 100 looked bleak.

Bangladesh finally got the momentum they so dearly required, via 17-year-old Shorna's blade. She first thrashed Priyadharshani through midwicket before slog-sweeping Athapaththu for four more. Shorna then struck Kavisha Dilhari for three back-to-back fours taking Bangladesh close to 100. Her attempt at a fourth boundary, however, failed with Silva taking another good catch, this time at long-on.

Nigar kept things going at the other end. Bangladesh reached 100 in the 19th over before Nigar struck two fours off Prabodhani in the 20th. Bangladesh added 44 runs in the last five overs, but 111 against an in-form Sri Lanka unit was never going to be enough.

Sri Lanka's over-reliance on Athapaththu has often cost them dearly in the past. But Gunaratne kept a calm head after her captain fell early. Athapaththu started with a six over deep midwicket but failed to clear long-on soon after against Nahida Akter.

Gunaratne, however, kept Sri Lanka on track. She got going with a four over mid-off and then whacked Marufa wide of long-on. Gunaratne collected five fours in the three overs after the powerplay as Sri Lanka sped towards the target. The highlight of her innings was her running between the wickets. When the boundaries didn't come, she tapped and ran.

She got good support from Samarawickrama. The duo added 54 off 48 balls for the second wicket and did not let Bangladesh into the game at any stage. Gunaratne brought up her fifty with a reverse sweep, a shot she played seven times during her innings.

By the time she fell for 51 off 48, cleaned up by Nahida, Sri Lanka needed just 26 from 37 balls. Samarawickrama then took up the mantle and she and Dilhari struck three fours in a Shorna over to bring the target down to single digits before Dilhari finished the chase with a four over mid-off.

For Bangladesh, Nahida picked up all three wickets to fall, ending with 3 for 12 from her four overs.