Bangladesh all but out of Asia Cup
Sri Lanka players celebrate the dismissal of Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan (2nd-L) during their Asia Cup 2023 Super Four match at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Saturday. — AFP photo
Sports desk: : Bangladesh suffered a 21-run defeat to Sri Lanka in their second Super Four game of the Asia Cup in Colombo on Saturday which almost ruled out their chances of reaching the final of the tournament for the first time since 2018.
The Tigers now have no points from their first two games following two defeats.
Batting first on Saturday, Sri Lanka managed to post 257-9, courtesy of 93 runs from Sadeera Samarawickrama and a fifty from Kusal Mendis.
Hasan Mahmud and Taskin Ahmed took three wickets for Bangladesh, while Shoriful Islam picked up two.
In reply, After another sorry performance from the top-order, Towhid Hridoy fought alone with a brilliant 82-run innings off 96 balls, but it was too much for him to chase down alone as he received little to no support, with Mushfiqur Rahim’s 29 being the second-highest score of the innings and Bangladesh were bowled out for 236.
For Sri Lanka, Dasun Shanaka, Maheesh Theekshana, and Matheesha Pathirana picked up three wickets each.
After being put into bat, the Sri Lankans were off to a good start as Dimuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka added 34 runs in 33 balls but it came to an end when Mahmud produced a beautiful seaming delivery to get the former.
However, a 74-run stand between Nissanka (40) and Kusal Mendis (50) saw the hosts gain control, with the later picking up his second fifty of the tournament.
Shoriful then brought Bangladesh back by sending them both back, and then Taskin got rid of Charith Asalanka (10) to put Bangladesh in control.
Mahmud dismissing Dhananjaya de Silva (6) a few overs later only put the Tigers firmly on the steering wheel.
Yet, Samarawickrama, the right-handed Lankan batter, stayed put and kept the scoring wheel running, ensuring that they had a solid score to defend.
Before getting out to Taskin in the final ball of the innings, the 28-year-old batter managed to score 93 runs off just 72 balls, and helped Sri Lanka reach 257-9.
Chasing 258, Bangladesh were off to a good start as Mehidy Hasan Miraz (28) and Mohammad Naim (21) added 55 runs for the Tigers. Both of them were dismissed by Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka, and two careless shots from Shakib Al Hasan (3) and Liton Das (15) meant Bangladesh were down to 70-4.
From there, Towhid and Mushfiq (29) added 72 runs for the fifth wicket to give Bangladesh some hope, before Shanaka came back to send the latter packing.
After Shamim Hossain (5) was dismissed, Towhid tried to take the game deep but a brilliant delivery from Theekshana got the better of him, crushing Bangladesh’s hopes.
