Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu who bowled an excellent last over in the Women’s World Cup match against Bangladesh where she defended 9 runs in the last over and took 4 wickets in the same over, said that even with the win, it’ll be a miracle if her team qualify for the semifinal.
“One more game left, we’ll try our best to win and (it) will be a miracle if we can make the semis,” said Athapaththu,
She also said it came down to handling pressure and her players lived up to expectations. “We handled the pressure till the last over. Knew we had to keep fighting till the end. Did many mistakes as a batting unit, not our best game but we were lucky enough to win. We played four games in Sri Lanka but unfortunately two games (were) washed out. Too hard to predict the weather. As a professional team, we can’t blame those things,” she said.
“Hasini (Perera, 85 runs) and myself (46 runs) had a good partnership, and then I got out. Have to learn from the Bangladesh team how they batted in the middle overs. We made so many mistakes as a batting unit,” the 35-year-old added.
Sri Lanka might have earned two crucial points to take their tally to four — the same as India and New Zealand — but their extremely dismal net run rate (NRR) puts them in a disadvantage as they compete with the other two teams to secure a last-four berth. Australia, England and South Africa have already made it to the knockouts.
In the match, half-centuries from captain Nigar Sultana and batting stalwart Sharmin Akhter went in vain as Bangladesh lost to Sri Lanka by seven runs.
With this loss, Bangladesh are out of the competition, while Sri Lanka kept their slim chance of securing a place in the knockouts.
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Chasing Sri Lanka’s target of 203, built on Hasini Perera’s 85, skipper Athapaththu’s 46, and Nilakshika Silva’s 37, Bangladesh were going steady with Sharmin (64 retd hurt) and skipper Nigar (77) scoring half-centuries. But a late-order collapse saw them stranded at 195/9 in 50 overs.
Chamari (4/42) emerged the most successful Sri Lankan bowler after taking three wickets in the last over.
(With agency inputs)
