Athapaththu’s 52 and three wickets seal a 2-1 series win for Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka won the decider by eight wickets in Hambantota, with Harshitha Samarawickrama finishing unbeaten on 71 to take the series 2-1.
Jul 28, 2026
Sri Lanka Women took the one-day series against Pakistan 2-1 on Tuesday, knocking off a target of 188 with 76 balls to spare in Hambantota. Chamari Athapaththu shaped the whole afternoon, first with three wickets through the middle of Pakistan’s innings and then with 52 off 38 balls at the top of the chase.
Three down inside two overs
Athapaththu put Pakistan in at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium and Chethana Vimukthi made the decision look obvious straight away. Sadaf Shamas edged behind for 9, Sidra Amin followed for a three-ball duck, and Ayesha Zafar was trapped lbw first ball. Pakistan were 10 for 3 after 11 balls, all three to Vimukthi.
Gull Feroza dragged them out of it with 40 off 35, driving five fours before Athapaththu found her pad. Her stand of 68 with Muneeba Ali was the innings’ only real platform. Muneeba battled to 34 off 71 without ever getting away, and Najiha Alvi added 30 off 39 before Athapaththu took a return catch.
Fatima Sana top-scored with 41 off 49 and was last out, picking out Rashmika Sewwandi off the bowling of Kavisha Dilhari in the 40th over. Pakistan were bowled out for 187 with ten overs of their allocation unused. Vimukthi finished with 3 for 36, Athapaththu 3 for 27 from six overs of off-spin, and Dilhari 3 for 27.
Athapaththu settles it early
The chase never wobbled. Vishmi Gunaratne fell for 12 with 46 on the board, and by then Athapaththu was already into her stride. She reached fifty off 33 balls with seven fours and two sixes, and although Umm-e-Hani had her caught at 85 for 2, the chase was out of Pakistan’s hands by then.
Harshitha Samarawickrama and Hasini Perera did the rest without fuss. Their unbroken stand of 106 took Sri Lanka home in the 38th over, Samarawickrama finishing on 71 not out from 92 balls with 11 fours and Perera on 50 not out. Nashra Sandhu was the only Pakistan bowler who looked like slowing things down, conceding 23 from her ten overs, but nobody at the other end could build any pressure alongside her.
Points on the board in the Women’s Championship
Pakistan had taken the first ODI of the tour before Sri Lanka levelled the series with a chase of 274 in the second, so a decider was a fair way for it to finish. Samarawickrama was named player of the series for her 173 runs, Athapaththu player of the match for the double act.
The result matters beyond the tour too. These three matches sat inside the 2025-2029 ICC Women’s Championship, the league whose table decides who goes straight to the 2029 Women’s World Cup, with the top seven and the hosts qualifying automatically and everyone else pushed into a qualifier. Two points go to the winner of each match, so Sri Lanka bank four from the series and Pakistan two.
Sri Lanka have leaned on Athapaththu for the best part of a decade, and she was again the reason the game turned. The more useful detail for them is who was still out there at the end. Samarawickrama has now scored a hundred and a seventy in the space of three days, and Perera saw out a chase without needing the captain in the middle.