Sri Lanka's nervy win leaves semifinal fate hanging in balance

Sri Lanka secured a nervy win over Scotland in their final group game of the Women's T20 World Cup on Friday (June 26) in Manchester, winning off the penultimate ball of the contest. While this result puts them level on points with West Indies, Sri Lanka's semifinal hopes have been significantly dented given they needed to hammer Scotland to boost their Net Run Rate (NRR).

Sri Lanka's semifinal chances were never completely in their hands coming into this contest. They needed England to beat New Zealand and Ireland to stun the West Indies. However, now they must hope the Irish can somehow deliver a thrashing that will lower West Indies' NRR. At one point, even victory looked like a tall order for the Sri Lankans as Scotland put on a spirited show with the ball after posting 151/6.

Although Scotland scored 21 runs in the first two overs, Sri Lanka kept them in check during the first half of the innings. Scotland's dot ball percentage was on the higher side despite the boundaries they fetched regularly and that meant their run rate was barely just hovering over 6 for the major part of their innings. After 15 overs, Scotland were 100/3 with none of the top 3 making use of their starts. Sarah Bryce, who was batting on 15 off 16 at that point, gave Scotland some much-needed momentum at the death alongside Ailsa Lister. While the two dealt in boundaries, Nilakshika Silva's two tight overs at the death proved to be crucial as that ensured Scotland didn't go beyond 151.

Once again, it was Nilakshika who came to Sri Lanka's rescue in the run chase as well when Scotland were on the brink of pulling off a memorable win. Chamari Athapaththu went out all guns blazing in the chase, realising the need for a huge win. After smashing two fours in the first over, Athpaththu went big in the second, fetching three fours and a six to stun Scotland. Hasini Perera also batted in the same vein when she entered the crease as Sri Lanka wiped out 55 runs from the target after just five overs. But Athapaththu's approach eventually cost her as she was castled while attempting a big heave in the final over of the Powerplay.

Then came the squeeze on the back of some regular strikes as Scotland fought back. Hasini miscued one to depart in the 9th over and Hansima Karunaratne was trapped lbw in the following over. From 55/1 after 5 overs, Sri Lanka were now reeling at 81/4 at the halfway mark. Scotland then sensed a real chance when they also managed to send Harshitha Samarawickrama back to the pavilion as Sri Lanka's hopes of a NRR boosting win suffered a massive blow. Needing 46 from 42 with only 5 wickets in hand, Sri Lanka's primary target was just to get over the line now.

Kirstie Gordon then caused more panic in the Sri Lankan camp as she not only picked up a wicket but also followed it up with a tight over that brought the equation down to 27 off 18. Kaushani Nuthyangana then hit back-to-back boundaries to dent Scotland's hopes but she too was dismissed immediately, which meant Nilakshi had to do it all by herself in the final two overs. While she didn't smash a boundary, the veteran did enough in the penultimate over before Sugandika Kumari found the boundary off second last ball to seal the deal.

Brief scores: Scotland 151/6 in 20 overs (Sarah Bryce 47*, Darcey Carter 34; Mithali Ayodhya 2-34) lost to Sri Lanka 154/7 in 19.5 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 33, Nilakshi Silva 21*; Katherine Fraser 2-25, Kathryn Bryce 2-28) by 3 wickets