A scintillating 93 from Sadeera Samarawickrama that preceded a spirited bowling effort helped Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 21 runs in their Asia Cup Super 4 match in Colombo on Saturday. Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka (3/28), spinner Maheesh Theekshana (3/69) and Matheesha Pathirana (3/58) were on the money with the ball as they bowled out Bangladesh for 236 after posting 257 for 9. The visitors offered a hard fight through young Towhid Hridoy (82 off 97 balls, 7×4, 1×6) but the evening had no room for a one-man super show.
Now the Lankans can make a real push towards the final with two games to go, but Bangladesh’s hopes of participating in the title round were all but over after this setback.
They had lost to Pakistan by seven wickets in the Super 4 opener in Lahore on Wednesday.
However, Bangladesh started their chase as they had a real chance to overhaul Lanka’s total.
Openers Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mohammad Naim added 55 runs in 11.1 overs but Shanaka broke the growing alliance.
Miraz pulled Shanaka straight into the hands of substitute Dushan Hemantha, and he soon dismissed Naim with a sharp bouncer that pushed the batsman to wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis.
Bangladesh were soon at 83 for four but veteran batsman Mushfiqur Rahim and Hridoy added 62 runs for the fifth wicket to get Bangladesh back on track.
Mushfiqur wasn’t really at his best, but Hridoy played some nice shots on his way to his fourth ODI fifty, especially in the arc between mid-wicket and fine leg.
When the boundaries were difficult to reach, the 22-year-old Hridoy kept the board with sharp running between the wickets.
Shanaka returned to break the threatened alliance and dismiss Mushfiqur, and moments later Theekshana trapped Hridoy in front of the wicket as Bangladesh’s spirit gradually faded.
Earlier, Samarawickrama, whose 93 came off just 72 balls, and Mendis, who made an even fifty, fought hard but Lanka found it a bit tricky and finished with a total that was almost a challenge.
After the early departure of Dimuth Karunaratne, who pushed pacer Mahmud to Mushfiqur behind the stumps, Lanka found some sense through Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis.
Mendis and Nissanka (40 off 60 balls) added 74 runs for the second wicket, but the partnership was not always smooth.
Mendis in particular was scratchy in the middle and there were plenty of edges and false shots in his 60-ball knock.
Nissanka was relatively smoother but a clever slower delivery from Shoriful Islam ended his stay as even the DRS could not save the batsman from the leg-before verdict.
The home side lost three more wickets in the span of the next 14 overs as they struggled for a lively middle-over phase.
Samarawickrama took charge of the situation at this point.
Samarawickrama, one of Sri Lanka’s better ODI batters this year, ignored a rather slow delivery and Bangladesh bowlers during his fluid innings.
The right-hander was confident in his foot movement and judged the length very early, a pulled six from pacer Hasan Mahmud was proof of that.
Samarawickrama and Shanaka added 60 runs for the sixth wicket that took them past the 200-run mark before the latter got out to Mahmud, who was impressive as he took three wickets.
Samarawickrama, who eventually bowed out in the last over of the innings, could have taken Sri Lanka to a better place with a little more support, but that did not happen.
But the Lankan bowlers made sure his knock was not in vain.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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