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A fine all-round performance by Eshani Kaushalya, who top-scored with 44 before taking 3 for 25, took Sri Lanka to a 45-run win in the Women�s Asia Cup over Pakistan in Karunegala on Tuesday.

Pakistan lost their openers early chasing 195, but captain Urooj Mumtaz, who scored a 106-ball 57, added runs with Sajjida Shah (27) to keep them in the hunt. They fell in quick succession – Shah was run-out while Mumtaz was dismissed by Kaushalya – and Pakistan then lost their last six wickets for 40, with Chamari Polgampola taking career-best figures of 4 for 26.

Sri Lanka fell to 57 for 3 after being put in to bat, before captain Shashikala Siriwardene scored an attacking 34, which included seven fours, to keep them afloat. But Pakistan�s bowlers maintained a tight lease on the game, forcing Sri Lanka to 118 for 6. Kaushalya then changed the course of the innings with 44, and when she was eventually run-out in the 42nd over, Sri Lanka had progressed to 161. Mumtaz was the best bowler on view from Pakistan, taking four wickets with her legspin.

Meanwhile, Karu Jain and Jhulan Goswami, India�s stand-in captain, stitched together a 53-run fifth-wicket stand to help their side overcome Bangladesh in Dambulla and record a fourth-successive win in the contest.

Chashing 161, India collapsed to 58 for 3, with Anagha Deshpande, Asha Rawat and Thirush Kamini falling on 18. Deshpande was bowled by Panna Ghosh while the other two were run-out. Priyanka Roy and Rumeli Dhar briefly steadied the innings by adding 30, before Roy became the third run-out victim. Dhar, however, could not build on her 39-ball 31 when she was caught by Ghosh off Shathira Jhatir. Jain and Goswami then stood firm to take India to safety, with Jain being the main aggressor, striking five boundaries.

Earlier, Salma Khatun, the 17-year old Bangladesh captain, played a lone hand of 90 before her team folded for 160. Khatun�s knock, which took 140 balls and featured 20 fours, took her to third-spot in the run-getter�s list. Her decision to bat first, though, went awry as Bangladesh collapsed to 14 for 3, with legspinner Kamini claiming two of those wickets. Khatun then partnered Ghosh in a 64-run stand to get their innings back on track, but a Roy double-strike hampered their progress. Khatun kept up the fight and made the most of the little support she got before falling in the 48th over.

Source:Cricket News

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