Friday 26 / July / 2024
DELHI: Bangladesh won by three wickets against Sri Lanka with Najmul Hossain Shanto and Shakib Al Hasan stitching together a 169-run third-wicket partnership in the run-chase at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Monday. A late middle-order collapse did make the game interesting but Towhid Hridoy and Tanzim Hasan Sakib ensured the team reached victory with three wickets in hand in the 42nd over.
Chasing 280 for a win, Bangladesh lost openers Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das early in the powerplay to Dilshan Madushanka, who continued his impressive new-ball spells.
But having raced off the blocks early, Bangladesh only needed to consolidate and Al Hasan (82) and Shanto (90) did just that, forging a strong partnership to keep the run rate on par with the required rate.
At one point, both batters seemed to be on course for their individual hundreds, but Angelo Mathews extracted revenge for a first-innings mishap that saw him timed out. The all-rounder sent back Shakib with a cutter that found the leading edge and promptly gave him a send-off.
He went on to find seam movement with the scrambled ball and forced an inside edge off Shanto to clean him up next over.
With Bangladesh less than fifty runs away from a win, it didn't seem like a huge blow until Madushanka and Maheesh Theekshana sent back Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah in quick succession.
With Mehidy Hasan Miraz chipping one to the deep fielder with Bangladesh still 11 runs away, the game got closer than they would have liked.
However, they got home with more than enough balls to spare to register their first ever win over Sri Lanka in the men's Cricket World Cup.
In the afternoon, opting to bowl first, Bangladesh found an early breakthrough when Mushfiqur Rahim pulled off a sensational catch behind the wicket to dismiss Kusal Perera in the first over.
Kusal Mendis, who got off to a rather sedate start in uncharacteristic fashion, was dismissed by Shakib in his first over with the batter playing a mistimed stroke straight to mid-on.
Tanzim Hasan Sakib compounded their woes next over when Pathum Nissanka was cleaned up by a delivery shaping back in.
Charith Asalanka and Sadeera Samarwickrama put on the resurrection act, but things turned dramatically Bangladesh's way in the 25th over when Samarawickrama was dismissed following which Angelo Mathews was timed out for taking too much time to walk in.
Asalanka carried the side forward amidst the chaos with Dhananjaya de Silva offering good support and the half-century stand lifted Sri Lanka out of trouble.
De Silva fell for 34 in another odd sequence of play. The Sri Lankan was stumped out despite Rahim removing the bails with his gloves first as the Bangladesh wicketkeeper could take his time and recover to remove the stumps a second time with de Silva still not making an attempt to get back.
Asalanka went on to make a fine hundred with Maheesh Theekshana aiding him but the final flourish never arrived as Bangladesh kept chipping away with wickets. They finished on 279, making just 56 runs in the last 57 balls of the innings.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 279 in 49.3 overs (Pathum Nissanka 41, Charith Asalanka 108, Sadeera Samarawickrama 41, Dhananjaya de Silva 34; Shoriful Islam 2/51, Tanzim Hasan Sakib 3/80, Shakib Al Hasan 2/57) lost to Bangladesh 282/7 (Najmul Hossain Shanto 90, Shakib Al Hasan 82; Dilshan Madushanka 3/69, Maheesh Theekshana 2/44, Angelo Mathews 2/35).
