A game for ages at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai, with Sri Lanka Women pulling off a thrilling seven-run win and knocking Bangladesh Women out of the ICC Women's ODI World Cup 2025. A memorable debut for the venue in the ODIs. Bangladesh were in it all the time, but somehow, they just bottled the chase just like India Women did last night in Indore. A disappointing result for Bangladesh, while Chamari Athapaththu led the Lankans from the front and got her side their first win of the tournament.
Tomorrow, we are back in Colombo, with South Africa locking horns with Pakistan.
For now, this is me, AkshayaKrishna Polya, signing off on behalf of my colleagues Mohammad Anab, Manan Mehta, Zeeshan Naiyer and Aman. We will meet again. Until then, it is cheers!!!
Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka Captain): "Actually, we handled the pressure till the last over. As a captain I always say fight till the end. So we kept fighting. We executed the right plans. Though we dropped many catches and made a few mistakes. It wasn't our best performance but happy with the win.
Actually, we played four games in Sri Lanka, unfortunately two game got washed out and two games were lost. Actually it is very hard to adjust with this kind of weather. Though as a professional team we have to do that. We have to play our best cricket.
One more game left and we'll try to play our best next game. You never know, a miracle might happen and we may qualify.
Hasini and myself had a good partnership. Then we lost two wickets back to back. We have to learn from Bangladesh team how they batted in the middle overs. So we have to learn from them. We have to improve that. If we have to improve women's cricket in the country we have to play positive cricket out in the middle.
Hasini is a senior player. She is a very good player. Very happy for her. I hope she will play her best cricket in future. Actually, all the time like after every over I tell everyone to keep it simple. Take the game deep. Anything can happen then. Senior bowlers bowled really well. Once Joty was out we had the game.
Actually I had a choice between myself and Udeshika to bowl that last over. Udeshika told me that you look in the mood to win it for us so you only bowl it. Well hopefully it doesn't rain back home for our next game. So then we can do our best against Pakistan."
Nigar Sultana Joty (Bangladesh Women's Captain): "Till the end it was our game. We kept going in the middle. We had good partnerships but lost wickets at crucial moments. It has been definitely heartbreaking. We are not able to finish the games. We need to be a better side when it comes to chasing down the totals.
Shorna Akter has been impressive. She is our fifth or sixth bowling option but has been way too good with the ball. She has been handy with the bat as well.
(On poor fielding) In World Cups, you have to grab opprotunities. The dropped catches shift the momentum. We are a good fielding side but somehow we are not being able to perform well in the fielding department. We have one more match left and we will try to give our 100% in that game.
(On today's game) We were aiming to finish in the second last over. We never wanted to take it to the last over. We tried to hit boundaries in the second last over but couldn't get them. That was a turning point.
(On final league match against India) A lot depends on that particular day. We will put our 100% effort in that match as well."
Most Ducks for Bangladesh in Women's ODIs:
11 - Nahida Akter*
10 - Fargana Hoque Pinky
8 - Fahima Khatun
Highest Individual Scores for Bangladesh in the Women's ODI World Cup: 77 - Nigar Sultana Joty vs Sri Lanka, Navi Mumbai, 2025, Tonight*
71 – Fargana Hoque vs Pakistan, Hamilton, 2022
66* – Sobhana Mostary vs Australia, Visakhapatnam, 2025 64* - Sharmin Akhter vs Sri Lanka, Navi Mumbai, 2025, Tonight*
60 – Sobhana Mostary vs England, Guwahati, 2025
Smallest Margin of Wins for Sri Lanka in Women's ODIs (by Runs):
7 vs Bangladesh, Navi Mumbai, 2025, Tonight*
9 vs West Indies, Kingstown, 2003
10 vs Ireland, Lincoln, 2000
Hasini Perera (POTM): "I just covered my off stump a little more today. With that, I was able to hit the ball that were outside off very well.
(On team's performance) I am very happy with the win. Our team bowled well, especially the bowlers who bowled in the death. Fielders did a great job today.
(On her dismissal) I was trying to hit a boundary on that ball but I think I should have stayed in the middle till the end. If I had stayed there, then we would have got another 30-40 runs in the first innings."
Player of the Match: Hasini Perera
10:23 PM IST and Local Time: Phew a clash for the ages as the ICC Women's World Cup 2025 continues to provide thriller after thriller! Sri Lanka have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and who else but their talisman leader Chamari Athapaththu pulls them out of big trouble with a magical spell off bowling!
It all started with Sri Lanka choosing to bat first. They were off to the worst possible start losing Vishmi Gunaratne on the very first ball. From then on Hasini Perera and captain Chamari Athapaththu picked great speed and continued to smash boundaries left, right and center.
Leggie Rabeya Khan came in and changed the course of the game as she took the Sri Lankan captain out for 46. Two more quick wickets fell and then Sri Lanka revived as Perera and Nilakshi de Silva built a 74 runs partnership to take Sri Lanka to 174/4 and in a strong position. That's when Shorna Akter bowled one of the best spells of the tournament.
Maiden after maiden and wickets in the middle brought about a horrendous collapse for Sri Lanka. The team from 174/4 dropped to 182/8. Hasini Perera too got dismissed for a well-made 85 in this span. The last two wickets though showed resistance and almost batted 14 overs as they somehow got the score past 200. For Bangladesh Shorna Akter was the star with figures of 3-27 in 10 overs. 202 though looked a little below par at the halfway stage.
In reply, Bangladesh had a horror start. They were going at a snail rate and lost three early wickets as well due to the pressure built by the Sri Lankans. 44/3 in 15.3 overs was an atrocious moment in the chase but things changed from then on! Captain Nigar Sultana and number 3 Sharmin Akhter stitched a crucial 82 run partnership. Sharmin brought up a brilliant 64 before the humidity caught up with her and she had to leave the field with cramps.
Shorna Akter joined her captain and the pair started scoring briskly taking singles rather too easily. They stitched a 50 run partnership very quickly and the equation came down to 27 off 30 with the pair out there. That is when Captain Athapaththu came into the attack and broke the partnership!
From nowhere some panic set in the Bangladeshi camp. Still, they did well to get down to 12 off the last two overs with Nigar Sultana still out there. Sugandika Kumari bowled a brilliant three run over at that point for the equation to come down to 9 off the last over!
Captain Athapaththu bowled an over from fantasy to save her side. Four wickets fell off the first four balls and the important wicket of Nigar Sultana off the first ball killed the chase pretty much! The leader stepped up and she has given Sri Lanka another day to live in the tournament! As for Bangladesh their campaign comes to an end unfortunately. They have one game against hosts India and they should aim to win that for some much needed pride!