Cricket: ACC Women’s Asia Cup to kick off in Dambulla

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Women’s Asia Cup 2024 will kick off on Friday (19) at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium with the curtain raiser fixture between Nepal and United Arab Emirate at 2:00pm.

This will be followed by the all-important between regional rivals India and Pakistan at 7:00pm, as the second match of the 10-day competition that includes a total of 15 games, including the two semi-finals and the final.

The entire tournament will be played at Dambulla.

The tournament is competed among eight teams from the Asian region with India, Nepal, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) forming Group ‘A’.

Hosts Sri Lanka has been knitted alongside Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand, as 12 games will be played in total during the group rounds.

The top four teams will advance to the semi-finals, which are set to be played on July 26 and the winners will advance to the final that will be played on July 28 at 7:00pm.

Sri Lanka named its 15-members squad led by the experienced allrounder Chamari Athapaththu, who will lead a strong side potential of claiming the regional title.

Sri Lanka will play their first group game against Bangladesh on Saturday (20), followed by the games against Malaysia on Monday (22) and Thailand on Wednesday (24) from Group ‘B’.

India has won the Women’s Asia Cup at seven occasions out of eight editions, with Bangladesh having won once in 2018, beating India in the final.

Sri Lanka has emerged runners-up five times, including at the final edition held in Bangladesh, where India won the final by 8 wickets.

Sri Lanka team for Women’s Asia Cup: Chamari Athapaththu (Captain), Vishmi Gunaratne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Hasini Perera, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani, Sugandika Kumari, Udeshika Prabodhani, Achini Kulasuriya, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Kawya Kavindi, Sachini Nisansala, Shashini Gimhani, Ama Kanchana