Women's Asia Cup 2022: Sri Lanka cruise past UAE in a rain-affected contest

After three one-sided affairs in the first three games of the Women’s Asia Cup 2022, Sri Lanka looked to be the favorites in their contest against the United Arab Emirates as the two locked horns in the fourth game of the tournament. But UAE looked like a threat at a point in time and put up a tough fight before Sri Lanka claimed the win by 11 runs.

Winning the toss, Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu opted to bat first, and also opened the innings alongside Harshitha Samarawickrama. The two started off well and managed to get a boundary off the first three overs. Just when they got the game going and found the momentum, Mahika Gaur dismissed Athapaththu and provided UAE with the first breakthrough.

The first wicket did wonders for UAE, as they were able to break Sri Lanka’s flow in the game on regular basis. Harshitha Samarawickrama held the game tight from one end, but Sri Lanka’s batting unit came crashing down after her wicket in the 11^th over. Nilakshi de Silva and Anushka Sanjeewani did a little scoring in the middle, but UAE bowlers were terrific as they restricted Sri Lanka to 109/9.

Spinners lead Sri Lanka to their first win

Theertha Satish and Esha Oza opened UAE’s innings during the chase. The two started well, but the latter perished quickly when Kavisha Dilhari got Sri Lanka an early breakthrough. Just four overs into the chase, the game had to be stopped due to thunder and lighting, which was then followed by rains. The game resumed after an hour-long break, and UAE was set a revised target of 66 runs off 11 overs.

The game came down to UAE needing 46 off 42 when the play resumed but the break did no good to them, and the batters failed to score the required runs. The Sri Lankan bowlers made sure of their side grabbing a victory even after the low total in the first innings. It looked like UAE had got the game in their hands after the first innings, but Sri Lankan spinners were at their best and managed to restrict UAE from chasing the low total.