Brilliant Chamari leads from the front in stunning Sri Lanka comeback win over Bangladesh. Domino effect leaves Bangladeshis red faced.- BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE. (eLanka Sports Editor).
As twilight looms on the horizon for Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu’s illustrous career, she still shows plenty of fire in her belly and a fierce competitive spirit.
The brilliant all-rounder saved her team plenty of blushes when the chips were down and they were staring down the barrel of defeat against Bangladesh.
A near miraculous last over by a defiant Athapaththu saw four wickets fall in the last over and Sri Lanka staged a stunning 7-run comeback win that will be long remembered.
Athapaththu wiil be remembered for her tenacity, and despite the end of the road looming, has a fighting spirit hard to extinguish.
Batting first, Sri Lanka crawled to a meagre 202 in 48.2 overs and Bangladesh were cruising towards it at 4 for 176 without too much effort.
Athapaththu’s 46 off 43 balls and 4 for 42 were the highlight, as was Hasini Perera’s maiden half century, 85 off 94 balls.
Despite Athapaththu’s heroics, Hasini Perera was named Player-of-the-match.
With the chips down and everything looking bleak, it certainly needed something remarkable to stir up interest in a game decidedly one-sided. Nilakshika Silva added a valuable 37 off 38 balls to help Sri Lanka to some respectability.
That was when the spirited skipper Athapaththu stepped upto the plate with alternate plans.
She grabbed the ball, took two quick wickets and panic set into the Bangladesh camp with a run out and another wicket to the Sri Lanka skipper conceding two runs in the final over to swing the game back in unfathomable fashion. In fact Sri Lanka’s bowlers pegged the run rate down to two runs off the last nine deliveries in a stunning turnaround.
It was stunning to see Bangladesh crash from 4 for 176 to 9 for 195 as a domino effect saw 6 wickets fall for 18 runs as Sri Lanka produced the unthinkable. The last 5 wickets fell for a measly 5 runs.
The win however, does little to carry the Lankans into the semis even if they overcome Pakistan in their final encounter as their net run rate is worse than all above them.
India is likely to join Australia, England and South Africa in the leadup to a semi final and a playoff for the World Cup.
