Mustafizur Rahman and Rashad Hossain bowled wonderful spells to set the game up for Bangladesh, but so low has the team’s confidence been in recent times that they struggled to pull off the pursuit of 125 runs for victory. With nerves fraying as the game reached a climax, the experienced Mahmudullah saw them home with two wickets and six balls to spare. Sri Lanka, having been thumped by South Africa in their opening game, now face an early exit.
Having lost a bilateral series to the USA recently, Bangladesh’s lack of belief with the bat was evident at the start of their reply. Soumya Sarkar popped up a dolly catch to mid-on, off Dhananjaya de Silva, and Nuwan Thushara castled Tanzid Hasan to set the alarm bells ringing. When Najmul Hossain Shanto, the captain, then miscued a drive to Charith Asalanka at mid-off to give Thushara a second wicket, Sri Lanka were right back in the contest.
At that stage, a cool head was needed. Litton Das had been in wretched form, aggregating 93 runs in his seven T20I knocks in 2024, but with no run-rate pressure to worry about, he could play himself in. Towhid Hridoy too took his time, and their 63-run stand formed the spine of the chase.
But when teams haven’t been playing well, panic and mistakes are never far away. Hridoy clubbed Wanindu Hasaranga for three wonderful back-to-back sixes, but then missed a sweep to be trapped in front. In his next over, Hasaranga, the Sri Lanka captain, trapped Litton in similar fashion. Suddenly, at 99-5, the game was no longer a foregone conclusion.
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The out-of-sorts Shakib Al Hasan fell to a brilliant catch, with Maheesh Theekshana running in from third man to pouch one inches above the ground, and Thushara then finished his spell with a magnificent over. Rishad was bowled, attempting a reckless hoick, and Taskin Ahmed pinged on the toe by a pinpoint yorker. But with his best bowlers having no overs left, Hasaranga had no option but to turn to Dasun Shanaka for the 19th over. A hopeless loopy full toss that Mahmadullah slammed into the stands at square leg effectively settled it.
Sri Lanka paid the price for a collapse of their own. Pathum Nissanka had batted in marvellous fashion, striking some magnificent shots down the ground and square of the wicket. But when Mustafizur angled one away from his bat, the lack of pace saw him mishit the ball to Shanto at cover. Nissanka’s 28-ball 47 had held the innings together, and from there, it was a free fall.
Kusal Mendis had inside-edged Taksin on to his stumps to give Bangladesh an early breakthrough, and Kamindu Mendis also failed, chipping the easiest of catches to mid-off. But it was Nissanka’s exit that was the game-changer. Sri Lanka could add only a further 54 runs in the 11.1 overs bowled after his dismissal, with the batsmen having no answers to Rishad’s wiles.
Asalanka was his first wicket, caught in deep going for the slog, but the pick of the 21-year-old leg-spinner’s dismissals was the superb leg-break that drifted into Hasaranga’s pads and then turned sharply enough to take the outside edge to Sarkar at slip. Sharp turn also undid de Silva in his next over, with Litton pulling off a smart stumping. A laboured 16 (19 balls) from Angelo Mathews took the score past 120, but the momentum shift was palpable as Mustafizur and Taskin gave nothing away at the death. And despite Bangladesh’s own batters pressing the panic button a couple of times, 124 was nowhere near enough.
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