ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 Harshitha, Nilakshi anchor Sri Lanka Women to second win

Unbeaten knocks by Harshitha Samarawickrama and Nilakshi de Silva paved the way for Sri Lanka Women to record a comfortable seven-wicket win over Bangladesh Women and to chalk up their second successive win of the ICC Women’s T20 World played at Capetown, South Africa.

Samarawickrama made a quick-fire 69 in 50 balls inclusive of eight boundaries while Nilakshi de Silva chipped in with 41 in 38 balls with two fours. 

The pair associated in an unbroken 104-run partnership for the fourth wicket but the road to victory was paved with early road bumps. Chasing 127 runs for victory, Sri Lanka found themselves on 25 for 3 in the sixth over, Chamari Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne who were instrumental in the win over the hosts South Africa among the three wickets. 
Earlier, Bangladesh Women taking first lease of the wicket were well placed on 71 for 3 at the halfway stage of the innings.

However, they were bogged down and made to struggle for their runs with their late order imploding as Bangladesh were restricted to 126 in their 20 overs.

-MSA

Result
Bangladesh Women 126 for 8 in 20 overs (Sibhana Mostary 29, Nigar Sultana 28, Shamima Sultana 20: Oshadi Ranasinghe 3 for 23)
Sri Lanka Women 129 for 3 in 19.2 overs (Chamari Aththapaththu 15, Harshitha Samarawickrama 69 n.o., Nilakshi de Silva 41 n.o.: Manufa Akter 3 for 23)