Bangladesh jump to fourth in the ICC ODI Super League points table with a 33-run victory over Sri Lanka at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka on 23 May. Tamim Iqbal’s men have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series with the win.
Riding on Mushfiqur Rahim’s 84 and fifties from Tamim (52) and Mahmudullah (54), Bangladesh posted 256/7 after being opted to bat first. In reply, apart from Wanindu Hasaranga’s 60-ball 74, no Sri Lanka batter were able to accelerate on the slow and low Mirpur track.
Earlier, Bangladesh lost Liton Das early in the second over. Coming at No. 3, Shakib Al Hasan (15) began cautiously but failed to make it into a significant return. He ended up chipping to Pathum Nissanka in the 13th over, off Danushka Gunathilaka.
After Shakib’s departure, Tamim and Mushfiqur added 56 runs for the third wicket to rebuild the Bangladesh innings. However, Dhananjaya de Silva took two wickets with consecutive balls to bring the visitors back into the game. At that stage, Bangladesh were struggling at 99/4.
The breakthrough partnership of the match came just after that. Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah forged 109 runs for the fifth wicket to take Bangladesh to a respectable position. Mushfiqur fell short of a well-deserved century after a miscued reverse sweep went straight to Isuru Udana. Despite that, Afif Hossain (27*) and Mohammad Saifuddin (13*) squeezed 24 in the final two overs to help Bangladesh put on a reasonable total.
For Sri Lanka, Dhananjaya returned figures of 3-45, while Dushmantha Chameera, Gunathilaka and Lakshan Sandakan had one to their names.
Chasing 258, Gunathilaka gave Sri Lanka a quickfire start but did not stay too long. In the fifth over, Mehidy Hasan Miraz caught Gunathilaka (21 off 19) off his own bowling. Pathum Nissanka’s (8) early departure did not help Sri Lanka either.
Skipper Kusal Perera and his deputy Kusal Mendis then took the responsibility to construct Sri Lanka innings. They added 41 runs for the third wicket. But just when their partnership regained some momentum, Miraz returned. In his second spell, he had outstanding figures of 6-2-19-3. From 82/2, Sri Lanka were reduced to 102/6 out of nowhere.
In the late stage, Hasaranga and Udana (21) engineered a hard-fought 62-run stand for the ninth wicket. But it all went in vain after they fell in successive overs, off Saifuddin and Mustafizur Rahman. Sri Lanka, who were never quite in the game, were bowled out for 224 after 48.1 overs.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 257/6 in 50 overs (Mushfiqur Rahim 84; Dhananjaya de Silva 3-45) beat Sri Lanka 224 in 48.1 overs (Wanindu Hasaranga 74; Mehidy Hasan Miraz 4-30) by 33 runs. Player of the Match: Mushfiqur Rahim.