Bangladesh are well on track towards the final of the Asia Cup Twenty20 following their 23-run win over holders Sri Lanka in what turned out to be an exciting encounter at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday.
Hunting down the 148-run target against hosts and on a pitch the Lankans were disrupted within 124 runs losing eight wickets. Chandimal was rewarded a life with a first-over drop in the slips and he did ride on his luck-wheels to run-a-ball 37.
Chandimal and Jayasuriya then threatened but a 56-run partnership was just too short-lived to parry Sri Lanka over.
Dilshan's marooned form stayed long distanced, this time courtesy a Soumya Sarkar stunner, and Chandimal's terminally cute switch hit only opened the floodgates.
Sri Lanka panicked with every rising decibel, runs dried for as long as 7 overs after the half-way mark and Mustafizur resultingly rolled his wrists to frugal figures of 1/19.
Mathews wicket all but lidded off the fight and some late order assaults from Shanaka were relegated to impotent entertainment.
The 147 was only a par score, as Shakib Al Hasan admitted, but the bowlers were brilliant in defending it. Mustafizur wasn't just landing everything exactly where he wanted to, he also seemed to know exactly what the batsman's intentions were, every time. Al-Amin, Taskin and Mashrafe backed him up perfectly, and the spinners were outstanding on a slow deck, slowing it up, making the batsmen create all the power themselves.
Sabbir Rahman initiated his trademark batting style also propelled Tigers total to set the fighting target.
Sabbir hit a fabulous 80-run knock off 40 balls hitting 10 groundbreaking bicycle boundaries and three whirlwind maximums before the departure.
Shakib Al Hasan added 32-run of 34 balls hitting three boundaries in third wicket stand.
Shakib played the supporting role to perfection. Initially, he did struggle for timing and placement, but pinched singles and twos to rotate the strike. With their pyrotechnics, Shakib and Mahmudullah then, thumped a few sparkling shots in the slog overs.
For Sri Lanka, Kulasekara and Mathews swung the new ball. However, once the ball got older, Kulasekara looked short of ideas. Dushmantha Chameera though, impressed with raw pace and snared three wickets.
Earlier, the hosts won the toss and elected to bat first against Sri Lanka.
Photo-Mainoor Islam Manik
Bangladesh Squad
Mashrafe Mortaza*, Abu Hider, Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim†, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed
Sri Lanka Squad
SL Malinga*, AD Mathews, PVD Chameera, LD Chandimal†, N Dickwella†, TM Dilshan, HMRKB Herath, DSNFG Jayasuriya, CK Kapugedera, KMDN Kulasekara, NLTC Perera, SMSM Senanayake, MD Shanaka, TAM Siriwardana, JDF Vandersay