Sri Lanka Women – Bangladesh Women 1st T20 Nigar Sultana steers Bangladesh Women to thrilling win

Nigar Sultana cracked a match winning unbeaten knock of 75     

By M. Shamil Amit   

A quick fire unbeaten knock of 75 in 51 balls inclusive of seven boundaries and two sixes by right hand bat and skipper Nigar Sultana paved the way for Bangladesh Women to record a thrilling six wicket win with one ball to spare against host Sri Lanka Women in the first of three T20 encounters played at the SSC ground yesterday.   

The win came on the back of two valuable partnerships in Bangladesh Women’s run chase of 146 runs with Sultana being involved in both with the first of 51 runs for the third wicket with Rubya Haider and the other of 71 runs in only 39 balls for the fourth wicket with Sobhana Mostary who made 33 in 25 balls which had four boundaries enabling them to reach the target with one ball to spare and to take a 1-0 lead in the three match series.   

Earlier in the day Sri Lanka Women skipper Chamari Athapaththu winning the toss and electing to take first lease of the wicket though losing their first wicket with 16 runs on the board recovered with useful knocks coming from Harshitha Samarawickrama, skipper Athapaththu and Nilakshi de Silva which helped them make a modest score of 145 which proved to be insufficient.   

The two teams will play their second match on May 11 at the same venue.

Scores:

At SSC – Bangladesh Women won by six wickets

Sri Lanka Women 145 for 6 in 20 overs (Harshitha Samarawickrama 45, Chamari Athapaththu 38, Nilakshi de Silva 29 n.o.: Fahima Khatun 2 for 20)   
Bangladesh Women 146 for 4 in 19.5 overs (Ritu Moni 33, Sobhana Mostary 17, Nigar Sultana 75 n.o.)