Sunday, July 13, was a dream day for Bangladeshi teams across different sports.
The young female Bangladesh hockey players started it all by earning a historic bronze medal on their debut appearance at the Under-18 Women’s Asia Cup in Dazhou, China.
In the third-place decider, Bangladesh outclassed Kazakhstan with a commanding 6-2 victory.
It was then the turn of the young female Bangladesh football players to do the country proud as they claimed a last-gasp 3-2 victory over Nepal in the SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship in Dhaka, following their 9-1 thrashing of Sri Lanka in the opening game.
The young Bengal Tigresses are the defending champions.
Later on, Bangladeshi outfit Rangpur Riders posted a narrow one-run win over Big Bash League winners Hobart Hurricanes in the second edition of the Global Super League at Providence, picking up their second consecutive victory in a tournament where they are the reigning champions.
Bangladesh men’s cricket team then made it four out of four when they thrashed Sri Lanka by 83 runs in the second Twenty20 international in Dambulla to level the three-match series 1-1.
This was the Tigers’ second biggest T20I win in terms of runs while for the Lankans, it was their heaviest defeat against Bangladesh.
Bangladesh captain Liton Das led from the front with his 50-ball 76, while Shamim Hossain boosted the total with a brisk 27-ball 48 as the tourists registered 177 on the board for the loss of seven wickets.
In the process, Liton brought to an end a 13-match run without a fifty.
"In the last couple of games, I've been trying to play good cricket but it hasn't happened for a couple of matches. Shamim's batting was amazing. It's a good pitch to bat on, but you need to take a bit of time because some bowlers are coming with a bit of bounce,” said Liton after the game.
In reply, the island nation were skittled out for 94 in 15.2 overs as only two batters reached double digit – Pathum Nissanka (32) and Dasun Shanaka (20).
Rishad Hossain led the Bangladesh bowling attack with 3/18 while Shoriful Islam and Saifuddin bagged two wickets apiece as the Lankans succumbed to their lowest total at home against any opposition in T20Is.
“Whenever Rishad bowls well, we're in a good place. The bowling and fielding were important,” said Liton.
Having already lost the Test and One Day International series, the Tigers will now look to clinch the T20I series in Wednesday’s third and final match in Colombo.