Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh, 15th Match, Group 1, Sharjah, Oct 24 2021
Match Result: Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
Player of the Match: Charith Asalanka
Match Report: A thumping victory in the end for Sri Lanka, with five wickets and seven balls left. At one stage, with Sri Lanka needing 82 from eight overs, it looked like Bangladesh had the game in their hands, especially with three overs from Mustafizur and two from Shakib in hand.
But it all went down from that stage, Sri Lanka took 31 from two overs to bring the asking rate down and then Saifuddin conceded 22 from the 16th. Bangladesh’s fielders, mainly Liton, let them down as well.
Charith Asalanka was incredible – 80 off 49 from No. 3, which was Sri Lanka’s worst batting position coming into the tournament. He’s certainly made it his own, and showed that he can both attack inside the Powerplay, and keep scoring through the middle overs.
Wasn’t a particularly well-fancied T20 player before this tournament, but like so many of the Sri Lanka players, seems to have taken big strides over the past few months.
Mahmudullah: “Batters did a great job. Liton and Naim gave us a very good start. Naim played a brilliant innings to hold the innings together. Mushy played a brilliant innings. We lost a few chances. Would like to correct those things in the next game.
Watching last few games here, we felt extra spinner was a good option. We missed a couple of chances – would’ve been a different story. Hopefully we can put up a good game against them (England).”
Shanaka: “Not the easiest target to chase. It’s all about boundaries. Once the batsman gets set, any target is chaseable. Really important to win the first game. They batted really well. Those knocks are brilliant (Asalanka and Rajapaksa).”
Charith Asalanka | Player of the Match: “Happy that I could help Sri Lanka win the game. It looked like a very good pitch when I walked out to bat, so I tried to play my shots. Rajapaksha was the game changer, he played a few wonderful shots. I want to keep this up and keep winning games for my country.”
A win for Sri Lanka to start their journey in the Super 12s. Bangladesh had their chances but couldn’t grab them.
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