Athapaththu, Gunaratne and bowlers take dominant Sri Lanka to Asia Cup semi-final

A disciplined bowling effort from Sri Lanka, backed up by Chamari Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne's unbeaten 94-run stand helped Sri Lanka beat Thailand by ten wickets and coast into the semi-final of the Women's Asia Cup 2024 .

Batting first, Thailand's innings never found a high gear as they were restricted to 93 for 7 in their 20 overs. Athapaththu and Gunaratne then made light work of the target, as they romped home with 51 balls to spare. The win meant Sri Lanka topped Group B with three wins on the bounce, and will now face Pakistan in the semi-final on Friday.

Sri Lanka had made as many as four changes from their previous game against Malaysia, bringing back the experienced Hasini Perera, Udeshika Prabodhani, Sugandika Kumari and Achini Kulasuriya into the playing XI.

Barring the toss, not much went Thailand's way. They lost Nattaya Boochatham off the first ball of the game, and it all went downhill from there. Opener Nannapat Koncharoenkai was the only Thailand batter who looked settled against the Sri Lankan bowlers as she carried her bat through the innings, finishing on 47 off 53 balls. Only three Thailand batters reached double digits, while five of the Sri Lanka bowlers picked up at least one wicket.

In reply, Athapaththu and Gunaratne were circumspect early on, but opened up their shoulders after the powerplay. Athapaththu remained unbeaten on 49, and during the course of her knock, became the highest run-scorer of the current edition of the Asia Cup, while Gunaratne remained 39 not out.

Sri Lanka couldn't have asked for a better start, with Achini Kulasuriya, one of the four changes in the Sri Lanka unit, starting with the most perfect yorker that snuck under Boochatham's bat and crashed into off stump. Aphisara Suwanchonrathi then got back-to-back fours in the first over, but fell soon after mistiming Inoshi Priyadharshani to mid-on.

Koncharoenkai brought out a pristine cover drive against Priyadharshani before sending another classy drive past Udeshika Prabodhani, with Thailand ending the powerplay on 28 for 2. But while Koncharoenkai still got the odd boundary in, Phannita Maya, coming in at No. 4, simply failed to rotate the strike.

Maya took 14 balls to get off the mark, as Thailand's innings stalled after the powerplay. Her innings came to an end on a painful 18-ball 2 courtesy of a stunning effort from Kavisha Dilhari, who hared across from mid-off, then dived full-stretch to complete the catch inches off the turf.

By the time ten overs were done, Thailand had already faced seven overs of dot balls, and slipped to 42 for 3.

Chanida Sutthiruang started her innings by deftly placing Athapaththu, but fell off her third ball by chipping a simple return catch to Dilhari. Thailand went five overs from 11 to 15 without finding the fence, and lost Suleeporn Laomi and Suwanan Khiaoto in the process as they found themselves stuck on 54 for 6 after 15 overs.

Thipatcha Putthawong and Koncharoenkai's seventh-wicket stand of 28 turned out to be the highest of the game as Thailand tried to muster a few runs in the back end. They did score 39 in the last five overs, including 13 off the final, but 93 was never going to be enough.

Barring a dropped catch from Hasini Perera, Koncharoenkai's 47* was largely flawless as she carried the Thailand innings all by herself. But Thailand's 70 dot balls came back to haunt them.

Sri Lanka required just 16 runs to qualify for the semi-final, and 48 to top group B. They didn't break much of a sweat to achieve that. Both Athapaththu and Gunaratne took a bit of time to settle in. Sutthiruang, the medium pacer, got loads of swing early on but lacked control, and the openers picked her away.

Athapaththu got going by depositing Boochatham over deep midwicket before going after her again in her next over for a six and four. Gunaratne's first four came by nurdling a friendly Sutthiruang full toss past short fine leg, before she cut the same bowler through point as Sri Lanka reached 40 for 0 after six overs.

Both batters notched up a gear after the powerplay. Athapaththu thumped Onnicha Kamchomphu over long-on in the ninth over, while Gunaratne struck her for a six and four each. Athapaththu then took on Maya as Sri Lanka raced towards their target. Their win came in the 12th over via a bye. Athapaththu, for her unbeaten 49 and 1 for 15 with the ball, was named Player of the Match.