The Sri Lankan women’s cricket team made a great comeback in the second ODI at the Shaheed Kamaruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi today. Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by 4 wickets to level the three-match series 1-1. The third and final match will be played in Rajshahi on Saturday.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, the Bangladesh women could not go far. They were all out for just 165 runs in 45.5 overs. Sri Lanka crossed the mark with 70 balls and 4 wickets in hand. Nigar Sultana’s team batted better in the ODI match. Bangladesh won by 3 wickets by bowling out Sri Lanka for 205 runs with 9 balls in hand.

No one except captain Nigar could stand like that for Bangladesh today. The highest score of 58 runs came from her bat. Bangladesh were put under pressure after losing opener Juairia Ferdous (2) for just 4 runs in 4.4 overs and Sharmin Akhtar (0), who had scored 86 in the previous match. Nigar managed to salvage the situation somewhat by putting on a 45-run stand for the third wicket with opener Sharmin Sultana, who had scored 25 runs.

Nigar also put on a 32-run stand with Swarna Akhtar for the fifth wicket, 24 with Ritu Moni for the sixth wicket and 33 with Nahida Akhtar for the seventh wicket. Nahida scored 20 runs, 17 runs came from Ritu’s bat. Atapattu took 3 wickets for 36 runs.

Sri Lanka, coming into bat, lost 2 wickets for 46 runs in 10.2 overs but did not let the asking rate increase. A 77-run stand by Harshita Samarawickrama and Hansima Karunaratne for the fourth wicket laid the foundation for their victory. Samarawickrama, who scored a fifty (50), also put on a 33-run stand with Atapattu for the third wicket. Atapattu and Karunaratne scored 40 runs each.

Left-arm spinner Nahida took 4 wickets for 21 runs. Nahida took 3 of them in 7 balls.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh: 165 in 45.5 overs (Nigar 58, Sharmin 25, Nahida 20, Ritu 17, Swarna 16, Rabeya 15; Atapattu 3/36, Ranabira 2/28, Nimasha 2/29, Madara 2/30).

Sri Lanka: 166/6 in 38.2 overs (Samarawickrama 50, Atapattu 40, Karunaratne 40; Nahida 4/21, Ritu 1/27, Sultana 1/36).

Result: Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets.

Series: Three-match series tied 1-1.
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