Bangladesh Cricket has been going through a lot of controversy regarding the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup. Bangladesh announced their 15-man squad for the World Cup, where former captain Tamim Iqbal surprisingly didn’t find a place.
Bangladesh arrived in India yesterday and have played a warm-up match today against Sri Lanka. Captain Shakib Al Hasan missed this game as he became injured during the training with the squad. As a result, Mehedi Hasan Miraz captained the team against Sri Lanka for today’s warm-up game.
Anyway, Bangladesh did not have any difficulties defeating Sri Lanka without Shakib Al Hasan. They beat the Lankans by 7 wickets with 48 balls in their hands.
Toss: Dasun Shanaka, the captain of Sri Lanka, won the toss and opted to bat first.
Sri Lanka Had a Decent Start
Winning the toss, Sri Lanka started their batting innings with Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera. The two openers brought a decent start for the Lankans, picking up 104 runs in the opening partnership.
They both were looking good, but Kusal Perera was very unfortunate as he left the wicket after being retired hurt. Before leaving the crease, he scored 34 off 24 with six boundaries.
After that, Sri Lanka lost their rhythm in the game. Spinner Mehedi Hasa took the wicket of Samarawickrama in the 16th over. He also picked up a very crucial wicket of the Lankan opener, Pathum Nissanka. Pathum Nissanka was the top scorer for Sri Lanka today, scoring 68 runs from 64 balls.
The way Sri Lanka started their innings, it seemed they could easily post a target of more than 300 runs. But their middle order and lower order collapsed. Only Dhananjaya de Silva tried to handle the disaster in the middle order, scoring 55 runs. But the remaining batters failed to contribute much to the team, resulting in Sri Lanka losing all their wickets in 263 runs. Mehedi Hasan got three wickets for Bangladesh, while Miraz, Nasum, and Tanzim Sakib got one each.
Top Order Secures the Game for Bangladesh
Batting has been a massive concern for Bangladesh as their top order usually collapses early. But the top-order batters of Bangladesh played brilliantly. Opener Liton Das made an incredible partnership with the young batsman, Tanzid Hasan.
After a long time, Bangladesh had a partnership of more than 100 runs relying on these two players. Both openers picked up half-centurys today against Sri Lanka.
However, Dushan Hemantha broke their partnership as he picked up Liton Das in 20.4 overs. Liton scored an aggressive 61 off 56 balls before losing the wicket.
However, Tanzid Hasan continued hitting boundaries and making another crucial partnership with Mehedi Miraz. Together they added 52 runs on the scoreboard. Tanzid was so close to getting his first century but wasn’t lucky enough. He lost his wicket to Lahiru Kumara after scoring 84 off 88.
But Mehedi Hasan Miraz comfortably chased down the target with Mushfiqur Rahim. They both remained not out in 67 and 35 runs respectively. In the end, Bangladesh chased the target within 42 overs and registered a seven-wicket victory against Sri Lanka.
