Following the loss to West Indies, Chamari Athapaththu was distraught and said she thought she was "a failure as a captain". A couple of days later, she came up with a statement knock, leading from the front with a blistering hundred against Ireland to keep Sri Lanka's slender semifinal hopes afloat.

Ireland finished with 130 for 5 as skipper Gaby Lewis scored a 50-ball 59, but the total proved far from sufficient. Athapaththu blazed away to an unbeaten 106 off 61, which included 17 fours and two sixes, as Sri Lanka got over the line in 15.3 overs with nine wickets in hand.

Athapaththu set the tone for the chase with regular boundaries, scoring six off them inside the first four overs. Three more fours followed in Aimee Maguire's second over while Imesha Dulani, who was mostly a spectator at the non-striker's end, got a boundary off Orla Prendergast as Sri Lanka raced away to 55 at the end of the Powerplay. Athapaththu reached her first fifty-plus score of the tournament with a four off Cara Murray, getting to the half-century off 30 balls. She then struck a big six over mid wicket in Murray's second over, shortly after Dulani got a reprieve in the same over. At the end of the 10th over, Athapaththu had moved to 70, with Sri Lanka getting to 86 for 0.

The openers added 98 in quick time, with Athapaththu being the chief contributor, before the opening stand ended when Dulani was bowled by Prendergast. Athapaththu, though, was in no mood to relent, targeting Maguire again as she struck two fours and a six to get to 90 off 50. Boundaries off Prendergast and Arlene Kelly followed, and the Sri Lankan captain brought up a 58-ball century, her fourth three-figure score in T20Is. She aptly struck the winning boundary as Sri Lanka wrapped up the chase inside 16 overs.