Five wickets for 19 runs undo Sri Lanka, and Pakistan avoid the sweep in Dambulla

Sri Lanka were 72 for 1 in the 12th over at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Tuesday, with Chamari Athapaththu set and the series already in the bag. Twenty-nine balls later they were 91 for 6. Four overs of tail-end batting dragged them to 113, Pakistan knocked it off with 10 balls to spare, and the third T20I went to the visitors by four wickets.

Five wickets for 19 runs

Muneeba Ali put Sri Lanka in and then gave 17 of the 20 overs to spin, with only Waheeda Akhtar’s three overs of seam breaking it up. For half the innings it looked like a plan Sri Lanka had solved. Imesha Dulani was stumped by Najiha Alvi off Umm-e-Hani for 17, and Athapaththu and Sanjana Kavindi put on 36 without alarm.

Then Momina Riasat took both of them out in the space of three deliveries. Kavindi went for 20, caught by Tuba Hassan, at 72 for 2. Athapaththu followed for 34 from 33, caught by the substitute fielder Tasmia Rubab. Harshitha Samarawickrama edged Ayesha Zafar to Shawaal Zulfiqar for 3, Hasini Perera made a two-ball duck, and Nashra Sandhu had Kavisha Dilhari caught for 12. At the end of the 16th over Sri Lanka were 91 for 6, having lost five wickets for 19 runs.

Riasat’s four overs cost 18. Sandhu’s cost 17. Zafar bowled one over, took a wicket, and gave up six. Umm-e-Hani was the most expensive of them at 30 from four, and even she came away with a wicket. Kaushini Nuthyangana and Kawya Kavindi added an unbroken 22 at the end, which on a surface this slow mattered more than the scoreboard suggested.

Zafar keeps a wobbling chase upright

A target of 114 sounds like a formality until you watch the first half of the chase. Pakistan were 42 for 2 after 32 balls, both openers removed by Kavisha Dilhari, and by the 10th over they had lost Najiha Alvi to Nimasha Meepage and Umm-e-Hani to a run-out involving Dulani. That made it 61 for 4. Sri Lanka were bowling straight enough that they did not concede a single extra in the innings.

Ayesha Zafar batted through the wobble. Six fours in 39 from 31 balls, no shots she did not need, and she was still there when Eyman Fatima went at 80 for 5. Athapaththu bowled her in the 17th over with nine still required, by which point the game had gone. Saira Jabeen and Tuba Hassan took 12 balls to finish it.

Athapaththu’s 2 for 20 and Dilhari’s 2 for 24 were the pick of the Sri Lankan bowling, and Meepage went at under five an over. None of it was the problem. The problem was the 113.

What the tour leaves behind

Sri Lanka take the T20I series 2-1, which means they have now won both legs of this tour by the same margin after edging the ODIs 2-1 in July. Imesha Dulani was named player of the series for 123 runs, most of them in the unbeaten 101 that chased down 177 in the opener on 31 July. That innings and Sanjana Kavindi’s 46 on debut in the second game are what Sri Lanka carry out of the week.

Pakistan will read the third match differently. Their spinners controlled 20 overs on a pitch that rewarded patience, they gave away five extras in the entire match, and they found a batter prepared to stay in while the order came apart around her. Ayesha Zafar took the match award for 39 and 1 for 6.

Next comes the Women’s T20 Asia Cup, expected to run from late August with the UAE set to host, where Sri Lanka arrive as defending champions and Pakistan arrive knowing which half-hour of cricket cost them this series.

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