Tigers clinch win despite late Lankan fightback

Bangladesh have finally come back to winning ways after losing 10 matches across formats. Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka by 33 runs in the first ODI between the two teams on Sunday at the Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur and moved up to the 4th position in the ODI Super League points table. 

Wanindu Hasaranga's whirlwind innings of 74 off 60 wasn't enough for Sri Lanka to chase down 258. After fifties from Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah and Tamim Iqbal, Mehidy Hasan Miraz starred with the ball for Bangladesh with a four-wicket haul.

The visitors started pretty well as Danushka Gunathilaka made his intentions pretty clear early on. He took on Taskin Ahmed and hit quite a few boundaries before Miraz got the better of him. 

Sri Lanka lost wickets in regular intervals and a lack of big partnerships at the top hurt them. Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis stitched a promising partnership of 41 for the third wicket. But Shakib Al Hasan broke the partnership by getting Mendis out for 24. Perera was knocked over by Miraz in the 22nd over. He scored 30 off 50 balls.

The dismissal of Ashen Bandara left the visitors in a spot of bother at 102 for six in the 28th over. Dasun Shanaka and Hasaranga got a partnership going but Mohammad Saifuddin got the former out bowled in the 35th over with Sri Lanka still needing 109 runs.

Hasaranga smashed the bowlers all over the park and gave Bangladesh a real scare. He was hitting boundaries and threatened to take the game away from Bangladesh. He put on a 62-run partnership for the 8th wicket with Isuru Udana before mistiming a pull shot. Saifuddin accounted for his wicket. 

Mustafizur Rahman came back and got rid of Udana. It was the last nail in the coffin for Sri Lanka. The visitors were bowled out for 224 with 11 balls left.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz picked up four wickets for 30 runs. Mustafizur was among the wickets too, taking three. Saifuddin picked up one and Shakib got the crucial wicket of Kusal Mendis.

Earlier, Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal won the toss and elected to bat first. Sri Lanka made early inroads as Dushmantha Chameera got rid of Liton Das in the second over. The right-hander edged the ball to first slip while trying to drive and Dhananjaya de Silva took a sharp catch. Das couldn't bother the scorers. This was his third duck in the last five innings.

Shakib Al Hasan came out to bat at number three, for the first time since the 2019 World Cup. He started off decently with a couple of fours. But the southpaw struggled to get the ball away especially against off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva. He put a lot of pressure on Shakib and forced him to take a chance against Danushka Gunathilaka, another part-time off-spinner. Shakib ended up giving an easy catch to long-on. He scored only three runs off his last 18 deliveries and was eventually dismissed in the 12th over after scoring 15 off 34. 

Skipper Tamim Iqbal struggled to get going in the early part of his innings, having been beaten by Isuru Udana a few times. But he gained good momentum as the innings progressed and played some splendid shots. Tamim reached his fifty off 66 deliveries. 

Right after the fifty, Tamim found himself in a tangle while shuffling towards the on side and Dhananjaya de Silva trapped him leg before. The Bangladesh skipper perished after scoring 52 with the help of six fours and a six. De Silva removed Mohammad Mithun in the very next ball, and Bangladesh were tottering at 99 for four in the 23rd over. 

Mushfiqur Rahim, who came in at four, looked set right from the word go. He rotated the strike regularly and struck odd boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking over. He found an ally in Mahmudullah. They put on 109 for the fifth wicket, which is the second-highest fifth-wicket partnership by a Bangladeshi pair against Sri Lanka. Mushfiqur Rahim missed out on a well-deserved century by 16 runs. His knock of 84 off 87 was studded with four fours and a six. Mushfiqur got out in the 44th over.

Bangladesh were all set for a strong finish but Mahmudullah struggled to find his timing. He, at one stage, was 40 off 46 and expected to accelerate. But he could manage only 14 off his last 30 deliveries and departed in the 47th over. Afif Hossain played a handy knock of 27 off 22 towards the end a 9-ball-13 from Mohammad Saifuddin steered Bangladesh to 257 for six. Bangladesh scored only 64 off the last ten overs and Sri Lanka bowlers did well not to let the batters cut loose.

Dhananjaya de Silva was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka. He returned bowling figures of 10-0-45-3. Dushmantha Chameera, Lakshan Sandakan and Danushka Gunathilaka took one wicket apiece. 
 

Brief scores:
 

Bangladesh 257/6

Sri Lanka 224/10 (48.1/50 overs, target 258)

Bangladesh won by 33 runs