Nisshin, Sep 18 (IANS) Asia Cup 2026 runners-up Sri Lanka made light work of minnows Malaysia in the third quarterfinal of the Women’s Asian Games 2026 cricket competition to march into the semifinals of the event on Friday.
The Sri Lankan side put up a strong 160/4 batting first before restricting the Malaysian side to a labouring 74/7 in 20 overs to register an impressive 86-run win at the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin.
Captain Chamari Athapaththu starred with both bat and ball. She made a strong 37-ball 63 before taking two wickets to round off an impressive all-round performance. Kavisha Dilhari also put up a strong hand of 44 from 27 deliveries, while Harshitha Samarawickrama made 25 from 18 balls to power the finish.
Although off-spinner Nurin Imanina picked 3-29 in her four overs and Nur Dania Syuhada was a bit mingy in her 0-27 in four overs, the other Malaysian bowlers could not stop the much superior Sri Lankan side.
In reply, the Mas Elysa Yasmin-led Malaysian side had no reply to Sri Lanka’s bowling too. While there were glimpses with the ball, the batters cut a sorry figure with not much fight from them.
Winifred Duraisingam was the top scorer for them with 28 runs, but she took 47 balls to make them, hitting only a couple of fours. Mahirah Izzati Ismail also scored 24 runs but needed 42 deliveries for her score. All over, the Malaysian side hit just six fours and no sixes in a laborious batting display.
Medium pacer Mithali Ayodhya, off-spin all-rounder Dilhari and Athapaththu took two wickets each and were quite mingy in their spells. Chamari gave just three runs in her two overs, while Dilhari conceded four in three overs and also sent down a maiden over too.
Mithali was the most expensive bowler of the seven used by the 2024 Asia Cup winners, but she also conceded five runs an over to give 15 from her three.
This was the first one-sided game in the Asian Games cricket event after Bangladesh’s quarterfinal against China was washed out and Pakistan managed to survive a big scare from Thailand in the second quarterfinal.
The Bangla side qualified for the semifinals due to their higher rankings and will meet Pakistan in the semifinal. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will face the winner of the fourth quarterfinal between India and Japan.
–IANS
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