Samarawickrama and bowlers earn Sri Lanka hard fought win over Bangladesh
Sadeera Samarawickrama steadied the Sri Lanka innings with a well-calculated knock of 93 - AFP
Sri Lanka recorded a hard fought, yet thrilling 21-run win against Bangladesh in an Asia Cup Super Four match played at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday. Although there were predictions of late evening showers, the weather gods withheld the rains, helping Sri Lanka extend its winning streak to 13—the second-best for most consecutive wins behind Australia’s 21.
True that most of these 13 wins were against teams ranked lower than Sri Lanka in the global rankings, but it has helped the country grow in confidence as they approach the business end of the Asia Cup and the start of the World Cup next month.
However, not many fans were patronising the game due to the high costs of tickets with nearly two-thirds of the empty seats starring at the drama unfolding in the middle.
Bangladesh had begun the chase positively reaching 55 at the end of the 11th over, but Sri Lanka hit back with four quick wickets to leave them reeling at 83 for 4 by the 19th over of the match and eventually bowled out for 236 in the penultimate over of their innings.
Although he has hit a lean patch with the bat, Dasun Shanaka, celebrating his 32nd birthday, tormented the Bangladesh batters with some tight line and length, leaving little room for the batters to free their arms. When Mehidy attempted to pull Shanaka, the ball chipped straight to midwicket fielder Dushan Hemantha. Shanaka had his second scalp in the next over when Naim top-edged Shanaka straight up for the keeper to complete a simple task.
Skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das were given marching orders within the space of three overs by Matheesha Pathirana and Dunith Wellalage, shattering Bangladeshi hopes of reaching the target.
Mushfiqur Rahim (29) and Towhid Hriody fought hard with a 72-run fifth-wicket stand to keep them in the hunt but when Shanaka removed Rahim in the 38th over of the match, a defeat was on the wall for the Bangladeshis. Theekshana, who switched ends, having little success bowling from the press box end, picked up three wickets including that of half-centurion Hriody (82). Shanaka, Theekshana, and Matheesha Pathirana picked up three wickets each while Dunith Wellalage bowled well to return figures of 1 for 26 in 10 overs.
Earlier, on a wicket that appeared to be on the slow side, Sri Lanka posted a decent 257 for 9 largely thanks to a scintillating batting effort from Sadeera Samarawickrema. The right-hander had plundered a half century (54) in Pallekele to help Sri Lanka’s 5-wicket win against the same opposition in the group stage and now produced a masterful innings–93 off only 74 balls to give Sri Lanka a defendable total.
There was a good half-century from Kusal Mendis (50) and 40 from Pathum Nissanka as they shared 74 runs for the second wicket but it was Samarawickrema’s knock that defined the Sri Lankan innings. When he hauled out to deep midwicket off the last ball of the innings, looking to find the boundary, he had hit eight boundaries and two sixes and more importantly dragged Sri Lanka out of trouble.
Bangladesh who lost their opening Super Four fixture against Pakistan by 7 wickets on Wednesday put Sri Lanka to bat first and checked Sri Lankan batters with a decent bowling effort.
However, Sri Lankan openers Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne responded well as they batted with aggression before Karunaratne was undone by a peach of a delivery from right-arm seamer Hasan Mahmud.
Karunaratne reached 18 with two back-to-back boundaries off Hasan’s second over but the bowler had the last laugh when his third ball of the over pitched on leg and seamed and swung away, kissing the edge of the bat to the wicketkeeper.
Sri Lanka was 34 at that point and was striking over five runs an over. Kusal Mendis, who made a half century in their last group game against Afghanistan (92), and Nissanka consolidated the innings before Nissanka took the long walk back to the dressing room.
He survived on 36 when wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim failed to hold on to an edge off Hasan but he could add only four more to his score before Shoriful Islam trapped Nissanka leg-before-wicket. It was a huge consolation for Islam, who was deprived of Mendis’ wicket in the previous over by Shamim Hossain at deep square leg.
Hossain, standing a few feet away from the boundary line, had his arms stretched above his head, but the ball went through to clear the boundary, giving Mendis his only six of the match.
Mendis reached his second consecutive half century—a 50 off 69 balls with a pull to the square leg boundary off Islam but true to himself, Mendis threw it away four balls later as Sri Lanka slipped to 117 for 3 in the 26th over.
Charith Asalanka (10) and Dhananjaya de Silva (6) had little impact with the bat, perishing to some tight bowling from the Bangladesh bowlers. It was then all left to Samarawickrema to get Sri Lanka into a decent score. He had some support from Dasun Shanaka (24), as they shared 60 runs for the sixth wicket but the lack of firepower at the death restricted Sri Lanka’s inning to 257. Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud picked up three wickets each while Islam had two scalps for 48 runs.
| Scoreboard | |
| Sri Lanka Pathum Nissanka lbw b Islam 40 (Lands outside off, swings in, ball goes past the inside edge, traps in front) Dimuth Karunaratne c Rahim b Mahmud 18 (Back of a length, pitching on leg, swings away and finds an edge to wicketkeeper) Kusal Mendis c T. Ahmed b Islam 50 (Bouncer outside off, attempts to send it over third man, but caught) Sadeera Samarawickrama c Hossain b T. Ahmed 93 (Slower delivery on the off, tries to hit it over mid-wicket, Charith Asalanka c Shakib b T. Ahmed 10 (Slower delivery, outside off, looks to hit it over mid-on, ends up being caught) Dhananjaya de Silva c Rahim b Mahmud 06 (Short delivery slightly moving out, attempts a late cut, but finds an edge to the wicketkeeper) Dasun Shanaka b Mahmud 24 (Full outside off, tries to play across, but mistimes, finds an inside edge before hitting the stumps) Dunith Wellalage run out 03 (Appeals for a run out, but batters try to steal a run, as Mahmud kick the ball to the stumps) Maheesh Theekshana c Rahim b T. Ahmed 02 (Short on the off, plays a wild shot, as the ball balloons up to the wicketkeeper’s hands) Kasun Rajitha not out 01 Extras (lb1, w9) 10 Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 257 Did not bat: Kasun Rajitha, Matheesha Pathirana Fall of wickets: 1-34 (Karunaratne, 5.3ov), 2-108 (Nissanka, 23.2ov), 3-117 (Mendis, 25.5ov), 4-144 (Asalanka, 31.5ov), 5-164 (de Silva, 37.1ov), 6-224 (Shanaka, 46.4ov), 7-243 (Wellalage, 48.3ov), 8-246 (Theekshana, 49.1ov), 9-257 (Samarawickrama, 49.6ov) Bowling: Taskin Ahmed 10-0-62-3, Shoriful Islam 8-0-48-2, Hasan Mahmud 9-0-57-3, Shakib Al Hasan 10-0-44-0, Nasum Ahmed 10-1-31-0, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 3-0-14-0
Bangladesh Mohammad Naim c Mendis b Shanaka 21 (Short delivery, tries to pull out late, top edge to wicketkeeper) Mehidy Hasan Miraz c Hemantha b Shanaka 28 (Short of length, pulls but plays early, caught at mid-wicket) Litton Das c Mendis b Wellalage 15 (Tossed up outside off, spins away, attempts to drive, finds slight inside edge to wicketkeeper) Shakib Al Hasan c Mendis b Pathirana 03 (Length delivery going across, strikes but edges to wicketkeeper) Mushfiqur Rahim c Rajitha b Shanaka 29 (Length delivery around off, swings away, batsman comes down the track but chips to mid off) Towhid Hridoy lbw b Theekshana 82 (Pitches on a length on middle, and goes on straight, beats the bat and traps in front) Shamim Hossain lbw b Theekshana 05 (Ball pitches on middle and straightens, attempts to flick but misses) Nasum Ahmed b Pathirana 15 (Yorker, full and straight on middle, attempts to drive over cover and kisses completely) Taskin Ahmed lbw b Theekshana 01 (Angles in from outside off, slogs but misses completely) Shoriful Islam b Pathirana 07 (Yorker, angled in from wide of the crease, tries to play inside out, Hasan Mahmud not out 10 Extras (lb8, nb4, w8) 20 Total (all out; 48.1 overs) 236 Fall of wickets: 1-55 (Miraz, 11.1ov), 2-60 (Naim, 13.4ov), 3-70 (Al Hasan, 15.4ov), 4-83 (Das, 18.5ov), 5-155 (Rahim, 37.2ov), 6-181 (Hossain, 41.3ov), 7-197 (Hridoy, 43.2ov), 8-200 (T. Ahmed, 43.6ov), 9-216 (Islam, 46.1ov), 10-236 (N. Ahmed, 48.1ov) Bowling: Kasun Rajitha 7-0-29-0, Maheesh Theekshana 9-0-69-3, Dasun Shanaka 9-0-28-3, Matheesha Pathirana 9.1-1-58-3, Dunith Wellalage 10-1-26-1, Dhananjaya de Silva 4-0-18-0
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