While Bangladesh struggled to take early wickets, they took two crucial wickets in the last over of the Powerplay to put Sri Lanka on the back foot.
On Thursday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh (183/7) by two wickets to go to the Super Four in the Asia Cup 2022.
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Losing both of their games, Bangladesh were eliminated from the competition while Sri Lanka and Afghanistan advanced to the Super Four from Group B.
While both sides traded blows during the first innings, Bangladesh managed to post a respectable 183/7 in 20 overs.
When Bangladesh were given the first innings, they sent in the highly-touted Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who got them off to a blazing start with his 38 runs off of 26 deliveries. In the middle overs, though, Sri Lanka mounted a strong comeback by taking wickets at regular intervals.
The innings gained momentum thanks to Afif Hossain, who came in and smashed his way to 39 runs off just 22 balls. Before being dismissed in the 17th innings, he and the fifth wicket holder racked up 57 runs off 37 balls.
With the help of Mosaddek Hossain (24 not out off 9) and Taskin Ahmed (11 off 6), Bangladesh was able to reach 183-7. Sri Lanka's Chamika Karunaratne took 2 wickets and 2 wickets fell to Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva's scalps in the end.
Kusal Mendis performed a battling effort (60 off 37) and kept Sri Lanka in the game as wickets fell from the other end as they chased a tough score. After Mendis was dismissed, it was up to captain Dasun Shanaka to keep the momentum going, and he did so with an important knock (45 off 33 balls) before being dismissed in the 18th over.
Subsequently, Chamika Karunaratne gave the Sri Lankan innings a boost with 16 runs off 10 balls, but he was out to the fifth delivery of the 19th over for a suicide run. However, the next batsman, Asitha Fernando, struck two crucial boundaries en route to scoring 10 not out from 3 balls, and he single-handedly steered Sri Lanka to a dramatic two-wicket triumph with two wickets in hand and four balls to spare.
The most successful and costly bowler for Bangladesh was Ebadot Hossain (3/51), while Taskin Ahmed (2/24), Mustafizur Rahman (1/32) and Mahedi Hasan (1/30) all contributed to the team's triumph by taking wickets.
The final scores were Sri Lanka 184-8 in 19.2 overs (Kusal Mendis 60, Dasun Shanaka 45, Ebadot Hossain 3/51), and Bangladesh 183-7 in 20 overs (Atif Hossain 39, Mehdiy Hasan Miraz 38; Chamika Karunaratne 2/32).
(With inputs from IANS)
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