Harshitha Samarawickrama blasted an unbeaten 49 off just 29 deliveries to set up Sri Lanka’s series-clinching win over Bangladesh in the second T20I at Sylhet. The visitors, riding on Samarawickrama’s flourish at the end, posted 154 and ran home comfortable victors by 21 runs.

Asked to bat, Sri Lanka put together a substantial total, built on the back of a composed top-order effort and a strong finishing kick. Sri Lanka got off to a sedate start with Hasini Perera falling cheaply to Fariha Trisna. Captain Chamari Athapaththu and Imesha Dulani then stitched a 44-run stand at a steady pace before the latter fell for a 25-ball 27.

Athapaththu shared another short stand with Samarawickrama before the captain fell for a 37-ball 42. At that stage, Sri Lanka were 93 for 3 in the 14th over and in need of a flourish to finish strongly. Samarawickrama produced just that as she struck four fours and a pair of sixes. Nilakshika Silva gave her company in a 61-run stand with a solid 22 off her own to fire the total above the par range.

In response, Bangladesh never quite managed to keep pace with the asking rate despite a rather brisk 46-run opening partnership between Dilara Akter and Juairiya Ferdous.

Once both batters fell after failing to convert their respective starts, the run rate dipped and Sri Lanka’s spinners were able to squeeze the chase in the middle overs. Kavisha Dilhari finished with 2 for 15 from her four overs and that meant Bangladesh fell well short despite a battling unbeaten 44 off 47 balls from Sharmin Akhter.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 154/4 in 20 overs (Harshitha Samarawickrama 49*, Chamari Athapaththu 42; Sultana Khatun 1-21) beat Bangladesh 133/5 in 20 overs (Juairiya Ferdous 29; Kavisha Dilhari 2-15, Sugandika Kumari 0-14) by 21 runs.

Source: Cricbuzz

--Agencies