Sri Lanka Women vs United Arab Emirates Women, Match 2, Group B, Women's Asia Cup 2026 - CommentarySLW vs UAEW, Match 2, Group B, Women's Asia Cup 2026 - Commentary

The defending champions, Sri Lanka have started their campaign in authoritative fashion, sending a strong message to every other team in the tournament. Now, can India make a similar statement when they take on Thailand tomorrow? We will find out soon enough. But for now, that’s all from us. We hope you enjoyed our coverage. Good night, take care, and we will see you tomorrow!

Chamari Athapaththu (SL captain): [Did everything go according to plan today?] Yeah, of course. Actually, as a team, we did a really good job today, and all three departments did really good. [How impressive are your opening bowlers?] After I took captaincy, I tried hard to find some good fast bowlers because we have heavily depended on our senior fast bowler Udeshika Prabhodini for the last ten years. We found some newcomers, and they did a really good job for Sri Lanka today, and especially Mithali, she's a very special bowler, and Vimukthi, she's so quick. She debuted today, and both bowlers did a really good job for the team. [More excitement or pressure defending the trophy?] Excited. I just want to play my natural game, and the team always play positive cricket in the middle. That’s the most important thing.

Chethana Vimukthi (Player of the Match): I’m really happy. I made my ODI debut for Sri Lanka against Pakistan a few months ago, and today I made my T20 debut. I’m really happy that I was able to put in a good performance for my country. That is my responsibility, and something I have to do for my country, so I have taken that responsibility. [Why did you switch to cross-seam?] With the dew coming down, when I bowl wicket-to-wicket, the ball moves a little more. So I wanted to bowl wicket-to-wicket but with little less movement, that's why cross-seam (translated from Sinhalese).

Esha Oza (UAE captain): [How do you assess today's performance?] We didn't have enough runs on the board. Not the start that we wanted in the powerplay. It's a decent wicket to bat on, and if we don't put a good score, we can't give anything to our bowlers to defend. [How crucial was the toss today?] It was crucial, but it's a toss. It can go either way, so you need to be ready for both the fronts. We didn't take, as a top order, the responsibility to get a good score on the board. [On two big games coming up] It's a good thing that we have quite a few days in between, so we know what we need to work on. We can get back to our skills, and after the rest hopefully we have two good games.

20:50 Local Time, 16:50 GMT, 22:20 IST: Well, the run chase has unfolded exactly as many of us expected. 79 was never going to be enough, and the defending champions have made an absolute meal of it, barely breaking a sweat. It all started with a disciplined Sri Lankan bowling unit giving absolutely nothing away in the first innings. The UAE batters lacked intent throughout and never really looked to put Sri Lanka under any pressure. In the run chase, Sri Lankan openers Imesha Dulani and Chamari Athapaththu came out all guns blazing, racing to 57 in just 5.5 overs before Dulani was unfortunately run out. Athapaththu, however, carried on in the same vein, remaining unbeaten on 48 and walking off only after the job was done. Sri Lanka wrapped up the chase in just 7.5 overs, securing a comprehensive win and putting two points on the board. This is Sri Lanka's biggest win in T20Is in terms of ball remaining. Post-match presentation coming up shortly..