News Updates.
Colombo, Sep 9 (Language) After Sadira Samarawickrama’s brilliant innings of 93 runs, Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by 21 runs in the Asia Cup Super Four stage here on Saturday due to brilliant performance by the bowlers.
This is Sri Lanka’s 13th straight win in ODIs. In terms of consistent success in this format, the team has reached second place behind Australia (21 wins).
Sri Lanka batted first, after scoring 257 runs for nine wickets, Bangladesh’s innings amassed for 236 runs in 48.1 overs. For Sri Lanka, captain Dasun Shanaka, Mathish Pathirana and Mahish Teekshana took three wickets each while Dunith Velalage got one wicket.
Tahid Hriday batted hard for Bangladesh, scoring 82 runs off 97 balls with the help of seven fours and a six, but it was not enough to save the team from its second straight defeat in the Super Four stage.
Hriday brought the team back into the match by putting on a partnership of 72 runs in 112 balls with Mushfiqur Rahim (29) for the fifth wicket, but after the break in this pair, Sri Lanka dominated the match.
Earlier, Samarawickrama hit eight fours and two sixes in his 72-ball innings. During this he made a partnership of 60 runs with Shanaka (24) for the sixth wicket.
Apart from him, no other batsman in the team could bat with ease. Kusal Mendis (50) and Pathum Nissanka (40) put on a partnership of 74 runs for the second wicket but faced 117 balls for it. Mendis hit six fours and a six off 73 balls in his half-second innings, while Nissanka hit five fours in his 60-ball innings.
Bangladesh’s spinners restricted the runs, conceding 89 runs in 23 overs while the fast bowlers shared eight wickets between them. In this, Hasan Mahmood and Taskin Ahmed got three successes each while Shariful Islam got two successes.
Mehdi Hasan Miraj and Mohammad Naim chasing the target gave Bangladesh a cautious start. Mehdi hit two fours against Mahish Teekshana in the second over, while Naeem hit a four against Kasun Rajita in the third over.
In the 11th over of the innings, the pair completed a half-century partnership with Mehdi’s four off the ball of Mathish Pathirana.
Shanaka broke this 55-run partnership by ending Mehdi’s innings of 28 runs in 29 balls in the 12th over. He achieved double success by taking the wicket of Naeem (21) in the next over.
Pathirana gave Sri Lanka a major breakthrough by dismissing Bangladesh captain Shakib (three runs) in the 16th over. In the 19th over, Velagale put Sri Lanka in control of the match by dismissing Liton Das (15).
After this the pair of Rahim and Hriday insisted on saving the wicket. Meanwhile, Hriday hit a four against Teekshana in the 25th over and Pathirana in the 35th over. During this Bangladesh team could hit only two fours in 19 overs. Bangladesh tried to make a comeback in the match by scoring 149 runs for four wickets in 35 overs.
However, the Sri Lankan captain dealt a blow to Bangladesh’s comeback efforts by dismissing Rahim in the 38th over. Hriday completed his half-century off 73 balls by hitting a four in the same over.
Teekshana turned the match against Sri Lanka by LBW to Shamim Hussain (five) and Hriday in the 42nd and 44th overs. After this he also LBW Taskin (one run).
Pathirana then completed the formalities by bowling the last two batsmen.
After being invited to bat first, Dimuth Karunaratne (18) hit fours off consecutive balls to Hasan Mahmood in the sixth over but was caught by wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim on the third ball. Nissanka maintained the run rate by hitting two fours in the next over off this bowler. Sri Lanka had scored 51 runs for a wicket in 10 overs.
After the opening powerplay, Bangladesh’s spinners started to tighten the screws, leaving Sri Lanka’s batsmen struggling to maintain the run rate. From the 10th to the 20th over, Sri Lankan batsmen could only hit two fours.
Mendis hit a four off Mehdi Hasan Miraj in the 21st over. He came alive on the first ball of the next over when Shariful’s ball hit the hand of the fielder standing at deep square leg and the ball went for six runs.
However, the left-handed bowler dismissed Nissanka and Mendis in their consecutive overs. He completed Mendi’s half-century in the 26th over after LBW Nissanka in the 24th over.
Charith Asalanka (10) and Dhananjay de Silva (6) could not make much contribution with the bat.
Amid fall of wickets from one end, Samarawickrama easily scored from the other end. During this period he hit brilliant fours against Mehdi Hasan and Mahmood. After 40 overs, Sri Lanka’s score was 176 runs for five wickets.
Samarawickrama completed his fifty in 45 balls by hitting a four off Shariful in the 42nd over. In the next over, his four from Taskin took the team close to 200 runs.
Mahmood gave a major breakthrough to the team by bowling Sri Lankan captain Shanaka in the 47th over. From the other end, Samarawickrama tried to increase the run rate by hitting a four to Shakib and a six to Mahmood.
He took the team’s score past 250 by hitting a four and a six off Taskin in the last over. He was out trying to hit another big shot on the last ball.
joy of language
Joy
This news has been taken from news agency ‘Bhasha’ by ‘auto-feed’. ThePrint is not responsible for its content.
.