Limansa Thilakarathna, daughter of Tillakaratne Dilshan, kept her cool to help Sri Lanka get over the line against Bangladesh in the third match of the ongoing under-19 T20 tri-series, also involving Pakistan.
Dilshan's daughter, Limansa, holds her nerves to secure thrilling win for Sri Lanka U19
Limansa came out to bat at number eight with her team needing two off the last ball in the 120-run chase. Having bagged four consecutive ducks in youth T20Is, she was under extreme pressure. But the southpaw didn’t let the situation deter her and drove a length delivery from Farjana Easmin to long-off before diving to complete two runs and take Sri Lanka over the line in Faisalabad.
Limansa, a leg-spinning all-rounder, had a very limited role to play in the game before hitting the winning runs. She bowled a wicketless over for eight runs, and took a catch, as Sri Lanka restricted Bangladesh to 119 in 20 overs.
This was Sri Lanka's first win of the tri-series after going down to hosts Pakistan by five wickets in their first match. Bangladesh, on the other hand, had beaten the hosts in the series opener by 30 runs.
Notably, Limansa bowled superbly against Pakistan to return with figures of 2-24 from her four overs.
Limansa represented Sri Lanka at the 2025 U19 T20 World Cup, where she finished as the second-highest wicket-taker for her team with seven wickets in four innings at six and an economy of 3.07.
She continued her impressive all-round show in the U19 tri-series in Australia, also involving England, in April this year, scoring 61 runs and picking up 11 wickets in four youth T20Is. Soon after, she also made it to Sri Lanka women’s A side for the home series against New Zealand, where she scored 45 runs in three one-day matches.
She was also part of the Sri Lanka U19 squad that toured India in June and July this year for three youth ODIs and as many 20-over matches. Though she didn’t pick up a wicket in the one-day series, the all-rounder scored 67 runs in three innings, batting at number three. She picked up just one wicket in the three 20-over games, but couldn't trouble the scorers.
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