Bowlers
fail to impress again
Lanka wake up to take series
Sri Lanka atoned for their calamitous defeat in Bogra with a 78-run
win over Bangladesh in Chittagong for a 2-1 series win over their
Asian rivals. Despite winning the toss, the hosts opted to insert
Sri Lanka and the tourists gleefully accepted the invitation to
hit a fine 309-7.
Kumar
Sangakkara's 109 set up a strong recovery from a bad start at 17-2..
Sangakkara's innings occupied 125 balls and included 11 fours.
He was initially assisted by skipper Mahela Jayawardene (51) before
Kaushal Loukarachchi's one-day best of 69 provided the acceleration
in a 104-run stand with Sangakkara. For the home team Slow left-armer
Mohammad Rafique took 3-61.
Sri
Lanka seamer Dammika Prasad, on debut, was on a hat-trick when removing
Shahriar Nafees and Aftab Ahmed in his first over. Bangladesh's
Mohammad Ashraful sparkled with a quick 64, and looked for a revival
but the rest of the batting crumbled. Skipper Habibul Bashar (31)
arrived to support Ashraful but Bangladesh struggled to get on top
of a soaring required run rate.
The hosts soon collapsed to 146-6 but some hard-hitting from the
tail-enders gave the home crowd something to cheer.
They
finished on 231-9 with no Sri Lanka bowler taking more than two
wickets.
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