Marufa loses by 3 wickets, Harshita's batting takes Sri Lanka into semifinals

Bangladesh once dreamed of winning with the brilliant bowling of Marufa Akhtar and Sultana Khatun. Despite setting Sri Lanka a target of just 115 runs, the Tigresses quickly sent half of their opponent's batters home. But in the end, that dream was shattered by Harshita Samarawickrama's cool-headed innings. Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by 4 wickets in the Asia Cup and entered the semi-finals as group champions.

As a result of this defeat, Bangladesh tasted defeat in their seventh consecutive match against Sri Lanka in T20Is. Now, to secure a place in the last four, the Nigar Sultans will have to defeat the United Arab Emirates in the last match. Even if they can overcome that obstacle, Bangladesh's potential opponent in the semi-finals is India.

Chasing the target of 115 runs set by Bangladesh at the Dubai International Stadium, Sri Lanka faced a setback early on. Marufa Akhtar dismissed captain Chamari Atapattu in the first over of the innings. She was caught at slip by Fahima Khatun as she came forward to play.

Marufa also struck in her second over. Opener Imisha Dulani was bowled on a slower delivery. Sri Lanka were further pressured by Sultana Khatun's strike in the power play. Sanjana Kavindi missed the line of the ball while sweeping and was bowled.

Then the situation became more difficult when Bhishmi Gunaratne was caught off Ritu Monir. Kavisha Dilhari was run out on a direct throw by Fahima. Sri Lanka was in big trouble after losing 5 wickets for just 44 runs.

But from there, Harshita Samarawickrama turned the match around. She pulled the team out of danger by forming an important partnership with Nilakshi de Silva. Marufa broke the 38-run partnership and bowled Nilakshi, but Harshita could not be stopped.

In the end, the left-handed batsman played a great innings of 48 not out and led the team to victory. Sri Lanka crossed the target with 4 wickets in hand. Marufa could not bring the team victory even after taking 3 wickets.

Earlier, Bangladesh lost the toss and elected to bat and scored 114 runs for 8 wickets. Although Dilara Akhtar and Juairia Ferdous gave a good start in the opening, that foundation could not be transformed into a big collection.

Dilara scored 26 runs and Juairia's bat came to 14 runs. After the departure of the two openers, captain Nigar Sultana also returned for only 4 runs. As a result, Bangladesh quickly came under pressure.

Sobhana Mostari tried to manage the innings at number three. She formed an important partnership with Swarna Akhtar. Sobhana scored the team's highest 34 runs. However, Bangladesh's innings stalled again with the departure of Sobhana and Swarna by one run in the 17th over.

Towards the end, Fahima Khatun's two consecutive boundaries increased the total slightly. But Bangladesh could not score more than 114 runs in the allotted 20 overs.

Despite putting up a great fight with the ball, Nigar Sultans had to pay the price for their batting failure in the end. Despite controlling a large part of the match, Bangladesh missed out on the win.