Toss Bangladesh opted to bat vs Sri Lanka
Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana won the toss and elected to bat in their opening game of the women’s Asia Cup against hosts Sri Lanka.
“Seeing the conditions it looks good. The ball is coming on to the bat very nicely and we want to put a score on the board. We make this tournament equally important as the T20 World Cup. We want to continue the same way we have played in the last six months,” Sultana said at the toss while also informing that opener Ishma Tanjim was handed her debut.
Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu said that she was looking to bowl first so she wasn’t too unhappy with the decision at the toss.
“We don’t want to take too much pressure, one match at a time. Hope my team will be doing well. We have a good bunch of youngsters and experienced players in our team,” she said at the toss.
This is the fourth game on this Dambulla surface and the pitch is expected to be good for batting. With the square boundaries fairly long, the running between the wickets becomes important here.
Bangladesh, the only other team other than India to win the women’s Asia are coming into the tournament on the back of a 0-5 sweep against India at home. In fact, they are yet to win a single T20I in 2024.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have been faring well in the format this year. They have won nine of their 12 matches in 2024, which includes a 2-1 series win over South Africa in March. They no longer just depend on captain Athapaththu to deliver with the likes of Vishmi Gunaratne and Kavisha Dilhari stepping up.
Sri Lanka: 1 Vishmi Gunaratne, 2 Chamari Athapaththu (capt), 3 Harshitha Samarawickrama, 4 Hasini Perera, 5 Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), 6 Nilakshika Silva, 7 Kavisha Dilhari, 8 Sugandika Kumari, 9 Udeshika Prabodhani, 10 Achini Kulasuriya, 11 Inoshi Priyadharshani.
Bangladesh: 1 Dilara Akter, 2 Ishma Tanjim, 3 Rubya Haider, 4 Nigar Sultana (capt & wk), 5 Ritu Moni, 6 Shorna Akter, 7 Rabeya Khan, 8 Nahida Akter, 9 Shorifa Khatun, 10 Marufa Akter, 11 Sultana Khatun.
