Women's Asia Cup 2022: Malaysia's chaotic collapse hands Sri Lanka their third victory

The 14^th match of the Women’s Asia Cup 2022 saw Sri Lanka and Malaysia square off against each other at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Bangladesh. Malaysia lost their first-innings advantage in the second innings of the game as they suffered a terrible collapse, and as a result, Sri Lanka bagged a massive 72-run victory.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. It was a disastrous inning for Sri Lanka in the tournament so far, as the Malaysian bowlers overpowered the Sri Lankan batters, thereby not letting them score any boundary for a very long time in the game. By the end of the powerplay, Sri Lanka had lost three wickets and had managed to score just 23 runs.

The bowlers rejoiced as the batters kept dealing in singles and doubles and till the 17^th over, they had managed to hit just two boundaries. Thanks to skipper Chamari Athapaththu’s slow yet composed knock which helped anchor Sri Lanka’s innings in the first half of the innings. Nikalkshi de Silva, Malsha Shehani, and Oshadi Ranasinghe chipped in a few runs which helped Sri Lanka reach 105/7.

Malaysia's batting lineup crumbles like a cookie

The Malaysian players were happy after restricting Sri Lanka for a low and easy total, but little did they know about the Sri Lankan spinners and their skills. Malaysia batters faced one of their worst collapses as the Sri Lankan bowlers stormed through their lineup. No one, except for Elsa Hunter, managed to get a score in double-digits and a total of seven players were dismissed for a duck.

Malaysia’s chase started with Winifred Duraisingam and Hunter opening the innings. Just when they tried to settle into the game, Sugandika Kumari picked up two wickets in the third over in the form of Duraisingam and Mas Elysa, while Mahirah Izzati Ismail was run out in the same over as Malaysia suffered a major setback.

By the end of the seventh over, Malaysia was reduced to 31/5. Just when the middle-order batters hoped to pull their team out of the misery, Malsha Shehani stormed through the lineup and picked up four wickets within just two overs, which put curtains on Malaysia’s run in the game. Shehani registered the figures of 4/2 in 1.5 overs and helped Sri Lanka bag their third win of the tournament.