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Sri Lanka Bowl UAE Out For 79 In Women's Asia Cup Opener
Sri Lanka bowled the United Arab Emirates out for 79 and won their Women's Asia Cup opener by nine wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on 29 August. The chase lasted 7.5 overs. Chamari Athapaththu finished unbeaten on 48 from 25 balls. Two Sri Lanka bowlers took three wickets each, and one of them was playing her first T20 international.
It was the second match of the tournament and the first in Group B. Sri Lanka are the holders. They have opened their defence with two points and a net run rate of 6.263, the figure reported by both RevSportz and Geo Super.
UAE fold for 79
UAE batted first and lasted 19.5 overs. Nobody passed 20. Captain Esha Oza top scored with 18 from 24 balls, and three team-mates reached double figures without going on. The innings never found a partnership big enough to change the shape of the game.
- Esha Oza 18 from 24 balls
- Samaira Dharnidharka 17 from 25 balls
- Rinitha Rajith 15 from 16 balls
- Heena Hotchandani 10 from 18 balls
Vimukthi's debut spell
Chethana Vimukthi bowled four overs and took 3 for 16 on debut. Mithali Ayodhya returned 3 for 14 from 3.5 overs and finished the innings. Between them they took six of the ten wickets. RevSportz reported Vimukthi as player of the match.
Athapaththu ends it in 7.5 overs
The target was 80. Athapaththu took it apart. She hit seven fours and two sixes in her 48 not out and was still there at the finish. Imesha Dulani made 25 from 18 before she was run out in the sixth over, and Sanjana Kavindi saw it home with an unbeaten five.
Seventy three balls of the innings went unused. RevSportz described the win as Sri Lanka's largest in women's T20 internationals measured by balls remaining. That claim rests on a single outlet and has not been confirmed elsewhere.
Group B and the run rate
Group B is short and the margins in it are decimal. Sri Lanka have two points and a net run rate of 6.263 after one game. UAE have none and the reverse of that figure. In a group settled on run rate, a 73-ball win counts twice.
Oza was UAE's top scorer and made 18. That is the number the side will look at first. UAE are the host nation and were playing at the ground that stages most of their international cricket. Conditions were not the story. Four batters got in and none of them stayed.
Geo Super's account of the innings has five Sri Lanka bowlers sharing the ten wickets, with Athapaththu among the wicket takers. The captain then opened the batting and made 48 of her side's 80. UAE play again in Group B. Sri Lanka go into the rest of the group with the best net run rate in it.