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Chamari Athapaththu took 7 for 5 from 3.3 overs, finishing with a hat-trick off the last three balls of her spell, as Indonesia were bowled out for 49 in Dubai. Nilakshika Silva’s 50 from 35 balls had earlier lifted the defending champions from 62 for 6 to 124 for 7. Sri Lanka won by 75 runs, and Athapaththu asked to share the Player of the Match award with Silva.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Sri Lanka needed rescuing to reach 124. Then Chamari Athapaththu conceded five runs and took seven wickets, and 124 turned out to be about 75 more than they needed.
Indonesia won the toss and bowled, and for thirteen overs the decision looked inspired.
Sixty-Two for Six
Ni Kadek Ariani bowled Imesha Dulani in the second over. Ni Luh Dewi then removed Athapaththu for 9 from 13 in the seventh, and with Sang Maypriani accounting for Harshitha Samarawickrama and Sanjana Kavindi, the defending champions were 37 for 4 and then 62 for 6 in the 13th.
Dewi finished with 3 for 32, Maypriani with 2 for 19. This is a side playing its first Asia Cup, and for most of an innings it was outbowling the tournament holders.
Fifty Off Thirty-Five
Nilakshika Silva came in at No. 6 and played the innings the situation demanded, which in her case meant attacking.
She and Kawya Kavindi added 50 for the seventh wicket from 36 balls, the partnership and her own fifty arriving on the same delivery. Silva made 50 from 35 with three fours and a six, striking at 142, her third half-century in the format — and she was out immediately after reaching it, Dewi’s third wicket. Kavindi made 15 from 19. Sri Lanka finished on 124 for 7, which at the halfway point of the innings had looked well beyond them.
On a Hat-Trick Twice
Maria Corazon and Rahmawati Pangestuti took 16 from the first two overs against the seam of Chethana Vimukthi and Kavindi. On a surface where the ball was not coming on, pace was never going to be the answer, and Sri Lanka turned to spin.
ALSO READ: Indonesia hold Bangladesh to 129, but fold for 58 to lose by 71 runs on their Asia Cup debut
Athapaththu bowled Pangestuti. In her next over she removed Corazon and Ni Kadek Fitria Rada Rani off consecutive deliveries, and then missed the hat-trick by the width of a stump, a yorker sliding past Desi Wulandari’s off stump.
She returned in the 14th to remove the Indonesia captain Ni Putu Ayu Nanda Sakarini, and then finished the innings and her spell in three balls: Ariani bowled for her maiden five-wicket haul in T20 internationals, Maypriani lbw first ball, and Dara Paramitha lbw to complete the hat-trick. It is the first by a Sri Lankan woman in the format, and it was the second time in the match she had been on one.
Seven for Five
The final figures were 7 for 5 from 3.3 overs — her career best, the best by any Sri Lankan woman in T20Is, the best by anyone representing a full-member nation, and among the top five in the history of women’s T20 internationals.
Sugandika Kumari dismissed Dewi along the way and Kavindi took a return catch. Indonesia were 29 for 5 at the halfway stage and were bowled out for 49 in 18.3 overs, with only two batters reaching double figures.
Athapaththu said afterwards that she had simply attacked the stumps and that there was no other plan, and that she wanted to share the award with Silva. Sakarini said she was proud of her side, who had bowled well for ten overs and learned something in the other ten.
Group B
Sri Lanka lead the group with four points from two, having beaten the United Arab Emirates in their opener. Indonesia are third and without a point, following a 71-run defeat to Bangladesh.
Pakistan beat Thailand by 35 runs in Group A on Tuesday. The top two from each group reach the semi-finals on 10 and 11 September, with the final on the 13th, all at this ground.
Result: Sri Lanka Women beat Indonesia Women by 75 runs
Sri Lanka 124/7 (20 overs) — Nilakshika Silva 50 (35), Kawya Kavindi 15 (19); Ni Luh Dewi 3-32, Sang Maypriani 2-19
Indonesia 49 all out (18.3 overs) — Chamari Athapaththu 7-5 (3.3 overs)
Player of the Match: Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka)
Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
