12:45 PM IST: That’s it. A solid all-round effort from Sri Lanka Women sees them beat Bangladesh Women by seven wickets in the second T20I to level the series. The bowlers set up things nicely for them before their batters contributed to chase down the total. The three-match series has been leveled 1-1 and the decider will be played tomorrow.
Chasing 101, Sri Lanka Women got off to a fantastic start, thanks to their skipper Chamari Athapaththu. She led the charge with the bat at the top of the order and played some brilliant strokes. They scored 42 at the end of the powerplay. Rabeya Khan dismissed the dangerous Athapaththu in the seventh over on 33. Harshitha Madavi joined Vishmi Gunaratne in the middle.
Fahima Khatun trapped Gunaratne in the 10th over and she dismissed Nilakshi de Silva in her next over. Madavi was joined by Kavisha Dilhari and both kept ticking the scoreboard. They pounced on anything loose and made sure that they kept the required run rate under check. Both Madavi (29*) and Dilhari (20*) remained unbeaten to guide their side across the line with nine balls to spare. Fahima Khatun did pick up two wickets but it wasn’t enough as they failed to defend the total.
Earlier, Lankan skipper Athapaththu won the toss and opted to bowl first. Rubya Haider was looking good for Bangladesh at the top of the order but fell on 16 in the fifth over. The visitors were 42/1 at the end of the powerplay. Shamima Sultana struggled for timing and was cleaned up on 18. Skipper Nigar Sultana and Sobhana Mostary led the recovery work.
Mostary was knocked over by Kawya Kavindi on 18 in the 12th over. The Lankan Women bowled tight lines in the middle overs and kept a lid on the scoring rate. They kept picking wickets at regular intervals and knocked over Bangladesh Women on 100 as they failed to play their full quota of 20 overs. Udeshika Prabodhani, Sugandika Kumari, Inoka Ranaweera and Kavisha Dilhari picked up two wickets each for Sri Lanka. Their batters then stepped up and chased down the total to level the series.
Stick around for the post-match presentation.