Sri Lanka women’s cricket captain Chamari Athapaththu, played a sensational innings of 80 not out off only 47 balls, leading her team to a comprehensive ten-wicket win over New Zealand in the third T20I at the P Sara Oval. The win comes as consolation for the hosts who had lost the first two matches of the three-match series to finish 1-2. New Zealand clinched the T20I trophy after Sri Lanka had won the ODIs 2-1.
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Inoka Ranaweera took three wickets for 15 runs, while Sugandika Kumari claimed two wickets, restricting New Zealand to a total of 140/9. Chamari displayed her aggressive intent right from the start, as Sri Lanka hammered 64 runs in the power-play without losing a wicket. The skipper contributed 45 runs during that period.
Chamari reached her fifty in just 25 balls, setting a new record for the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan women’s player in T20Is. She continued her onslaught even after reaching the milestone, finishing with an unbeaten 80. Her knock was laced with 13 fours and two sixes. Harshitha Samarawickrama (49 not out off 40 balls) provided excellent support to Chamari throughout the chase. She struck three fours in the 14th over to seal the victory for Sri Lanka with 33 balls to spare.
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New Zealand’s captain, Sophie Devine, top-scored with 46 off 25 balls, including two fours and three sixes. But things did not go well for the visitors, as they lost five wickets for a mere 11 runs. All this happened in the last three overs of their innings, as they were reduced to 140/9. Sri Lanka comfortably chased down the target, thanks to Chamari’s aggressive batting display.
With this successful chase, Sri Lanka set a new record for the highest 10-wicket run-chase in women’s T20I history. They surpassed New Zealand’s previous record of 142/0 against Ireland in 2018 by one run.
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The unbeaten 143-run partnership between Chamari and Harshita for the first wicket also became the highest partnership for any wicket in Sri Lankan women’s cricket. This was only the third 100 plus run partnership by the Sri Lankan women’s team in T20Is. Harshita has been involved in all three of them.
