Derby: Chetana Vimukti’s four wickets, Vishmi Gunaratne and Samari Athapathu’s fifties helped Sri Lanka to a commanding nine-wicket win over Pakistan in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 warm-up match at the County Ground on Saturday.
Chasing a target of 169, Sri Lanka easily rattled off the winning runs with one wicket and 8 balls to spare, aided by a formidable opening partnership between Gunaratne and skipper Athapatthu.
The opening pair dominated Pakistan’s bowling attack and shared a 159-run partnership to keep Sri Lanka within touching distance of a comprehensive victory.
Dominating the match-deciding position, Athapatthu was Sri Lanka’s top scorer with 94 runs off 58 balls with 9 fours and 5 sixes until he was sacrificed by Pakistan opponent Fatima Sana in the 18th over.
Meanwhile, Gunaratne stood his ground and in the next over combined with Harshitha Samarawickrama to take Sri Lanka to victory for 4 runs. The right-handed opener scored an unbeaten 63 off 40 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes.
Captain Fatima was the only wicket taker in the Pakistan team.
Earlier, Pakistan captain Fatima won the toss and elected to bat first, but the decision backfired as the Green Shirts managed to post 168/8 in their 20 overs.
The Green Shirts started their innings with a bang as Muneeba Ali and Gul Feroza put on 60 runs, a dominating 21-ball 36 with 5 boundaries, until Chetana fell victim to Vimukti in the seventh over.
Pakistan lost five more wickets in the next 41 balls, including Berossa (26), to be reduced to 105/6 in 13.1 overs.
Following a middle-order collapse, skipper Fatima was joined by Alia Riaz in the middle and the duo batted valiantly to add 41 runs for the seventh wicket until being dismissed by Vimukti in the 18th over.
Alia contributed 22 runs off 16 balls with 3 fours.
Fatima, on the other hand, batted till the end and returned to top score with 37 runs off 26 balls with 4 fours and a six. He also shared a crucial 22-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Iram Javed, who contributed an unbeaten eight off six balls.
Vimukti was Sri Lanka’s best bowler with 4 wickets for 31 runs in his four overs, while Suganthika Kumari, Nimasha Mibake and Madara took one wicket each.