Sri Lanka edge past Bangladesh to march into Asia Cup semis

Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by a narrow margin in their Women's Asia Cup 2026 matchup in Dubai on September 6 (Sunday).

With the victory, Sri Lanka secured their place in the semi-final and extended their unbeaten streak to three games.

Sri Lanka were reduced to 44/5 in Bangladesh's first innings, but Harshitha Samarawickrama held on until the very end to lead them over the line despite a rising run rate and a lack of support. Bangladesh only managed 114/8 in their first innings.

Samarawickrama struck the winning runs in the final over in front of nervous Bangladesh fielders, remaining unbeaten on 48 off 37 with the final run coming off a leg-bye despite half-hearted lbw appeals.

Bangladesh appeared to have the upper hand after 17 overs, having reduced them to 86/6 with 29 runs still required. After finishing off Marufa Akter's excellent run of 3-21 in the final over, Samarawickrama was 28 off 30 at that point.

She turned the game around with a four two balls into the next over and the match's first six the very next ball. A slow over-rate penalty was imposed to exacerbate Bangladesh's problems when the final score was 13 out of 12. Only three fielders were permitted outside the 25-yard circle for the final two overs.

After that, at the end of the 19th over, Samarawickrama hit a cracking straight six to almost win the game.

Chamudi Prabodha broke Bangladesh's batting back earlier, and the other bowlers rallied around her. After Dilara Akter gave them a good start, Sobhana Mostary at No. 3 scored the most points with 34, but the middle order stalled after that. They were unable to break away from spin, settling for 114/8. They put in a lot of effort to protect it, but it wasn't enough.

The final group stage match between Bangladesh and UAE is now scheduled to be a virtual quarterfinal.