Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by four wickets to reach a third straight Women's Asia Cup final

Sri Lanka chased 131 with eight balls to spare in Dubai on Friday and booked a Women's Asia Cup final against India, beating Pakistan for the third tournament in a row despite an all-round night from captain Fatima Sana that earned her player of the match from the losing side.

Pakistan 130 for 5 in 20 overs. Sri Lanka 134 for 6 in 18.4. Sana 47 not out off 36 and 4 for 38 off 3.4. Those are the numbers. They do not capture how often the chase looked broken.

Pakistan's innings

Chamari Athapaththu won the toss and bowled, so Pakistan batted first for the fourth time in four matches at this tournament. They were 52 for 4 inside ten overs. Athapaththu took 2 for 24. Chamudi Praboda took 2 for 25. Sana then held the innings together, adding 38 in the last four overs with Tuba Hassan (12) while batting through cramp. Pakistan's 130 was defendable on a Dubai surface that had already rewarded the ball.

The collapse, then the stand

Sana's first over with the ball took two wickets. Sri Lanka were 5 for 2, Athapaththu caught by Sadaf Shamas for 5 off 6 and Sanjana Kavindi gone next ball. Hasini Perera fell at 31. Imesha Dulani went at 33 for 4 in the seventh over. At that point a fourth-straight first-innings total looked large.

Harshitha Samarawickrama and Kavisha Dilhari changed the match. Their 67 off 59 balls was the only partnership of substance in the chase. Samarawickrama made 36 off 31. Dilhari made 33 off 33. They took Sri Lanka to 100 in the 17th over before Sana struck twice more, in another double-wicket burst, to remove both. At 109 for 6 the door was open again.

Nilakshika Silva and Kaushini Nuthyangana shut it. Nuthyangana hit the first six of her international career. Silva finished the game with a four. Both of those blows came off Sana, whose last spell cost her the figures and the match. Silva was 13 not out. Nuthyangana was 14 not out.

A third semi-final, same opponent

Sri Lanka have now beaten Pakistan in the Asia Cup semi-final in 2022, 2024 and 2026. The repetition is becoming a structural fact of the women's game in Asia, not a coincidence. Pakistan arrive at knockouts with a captain who can do almost everything and a batting order that keeps leaving her too much to do. Sri Lanka arrive with a long lower order. On Friday that depth was the difference. When the set batters went, the next two still knew how to finish.

Athapaththu, who had a poor night with the bat, was blunt afterwards. "We have good players. If we can execute our plans in the final, we can beat any team." The any team is India, the side Sri Lanka beat to win this title last time and the side waiting on Sunday at the same ground.

What Sunday sets up

India are in a fourth straight Junior Asia Cup final on the hockey pitch this week and in another senior women's cricket final here. The two rooms of Indian sport do not talk to each other, but the calendar has put them on the same weekend. For Sri Lanka the task is narrower. They have the defending champion's dressing room and a method that survived 5 for 2. For Pakistan the night will be filed under Sana's name, which is fair and also a problem. A side that needs 47 and four wickets from one player to stay in a semi-final is a side that is one injury away from a first-round exit.

Dubai International Stadium will host the final on Sunday. The pitch has given 130-odd a chance and has punished the top order that starts slowly. India will have watched Sana's first over. They will also have watched Silva and Nuthyangana close it. That second passage is the one that decides whether Sri Lanka lift the cup again.