Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by 5 wickets. Bangladesh scored 164/10 in 42.4 overs which Lankans chased down in 39 overs and scored 165/5.
Just two days back Sri Lanka announced their squad for the Asia Cup and their prime bowlers injury made them left out from the squad, but their solid performance doesn’t look like they worry about the injuries and played brilliantly.
It was the first game of the Group B where Shakib Al Hasan after winning the toss opted to bat first.
Bangladesh from the starting didn’t look so good in the pitch and the wickets fell in regular intervals. It was hard for them to sustain a long partnership. Najmul Hossain Shanto shows a fighting spirit and he alone takes the charge for the team to score runs. He contributed with 89 runs for which he took 122 balls and hit 7 boundaries. He didn’t get good support from the other end.
Only with Towhid Hridoy (20 runs) he somehow manages to build a partnership of 59 runs for the 4th wicket. Two more batsmen touched the double digit – Mohammad Naim (16 runs) and Mushfiqur Rahim (13 runs). Therefore in 42.4 overs they scored 164 runs and lost all the wickets.
The Lankan bowling unit showed pure dominance as they didn’t allow the batters to get a good flow of runs. Their tight fielding and bowling makes the batters make mistakes. Matheesha Pathirana grabbed 4 important wickets and his slow cutters made it more difficult for the batsman to hit it.
Maheesh Theekshana gets 2 wickets. Dhananjaya de Silva, Dunith Wellange and Dasun Shanaka get 1 wicket each.
Since the target was not that much, the Sri Lankan batsmen played slowly so that they achieved the target easily. But still at one point of time they lost the 3 wickets in the score of 43 runs. Then for the 4th wicket 78 runs were added by Sadeera Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka.
Samarawickrama scored 54 runs while Asalanka scored 62 runs. Both of them played sensibly and they were not looking in a hurry and hit the loose ball and kept the scoring meter increasing. Samarawickrama hit 6 fours while Asalanka hit 5 fours and a six. At last Asalanka hit the boundary and achieved the target. They scored 165 runs in 39 overs and lost 5 wickets.
Bangladesh bowlers tried very hard but due to the scoring match they couldn’t do much better. Shakib Al Hasan took 2 wickets while Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan got 1 wicket each.
Matheesha Pathirana, Sri Lanka, Player of the Match
“This is my first player of the match for my country. Really happy about that. T20 skills are good for death overs. That’s why I took my wickets with slower balls. My action is unpredictable. It’s a good advantage for me.”
Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh Captain
“It wasn’t a 300 wicket. 220-230 would have given us more chances. Didn’t bat well as a unit. Have to regroup, have another important game in a couple of days. Needed a couple more wickets when they were 3 down for 30. We picked up wickets but didn’t have enough on the board. There were a lot of nerves when we started the game. Lot of guys are playing in the Asia Cup for the first time. They’ve been playing good cricket that’s why they are in the dressing room.”
Dasun Shanaka, Sri Lanka, Captain
“The way the bowlers executed, credit to them. Especially Theekshana up front, Dhananjaya and Pathirana who’s bowling so well. Tricky surface. The way Sadeera batted, today was his day. Asalanka has been outstanding over the last 2 years. Good signs for Sri Lankan cricket.”