Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by seven wickets

Runs continue to leak from Tillakaratne Dilshan’s bat as the dashing opener struck a composed 104 to steer Sri Lanka to a comprehensive seven-wicket win over Bangladesh in the opening match of the tri-series here on Monday.

Chasing 261 to win, the Lankans cruised to the win with 5.1 overs to spare as their top order batted well to ensure they make a winning start to the tournament. Dilshan’s knock, his sixth ODI century, came off 122 balls with 12 boundaries as he almost batted through the innings. He fell when Lanka needed just 19 runs to win.

It was Dilshan’s third hundred in the last six innings he has played and sounded a warning for India against whom the Lankans will play the next match of the tournament tomorrow.
Dilshan’s 148-run second-wicket partnership with skipper Kumar Sangakkara (74) laid the foundation for the easy win as the duo took the match away from the host with their by their solid batting.

Earlier, Mohammad Ashraful struck a responsible 75 and shared two vital partnerships with Mushfiqur Rahim (35) and
Mahmudullah (45) to help Bangladesh reach a competitive 260 for seven after being put into bat. Sri Lanka were off to a breezy start, rattling up 35 runs in the first four overs but Upul Tharanga (14) could not last long and was caught behind off Ruben Hossain. From there on Sangakkara, who hit almost scored a run a ball 74 with 10 shots, and Dilshan called the shots.