Shakib shines at No 3Shakib al Hasan batted at No 3, a very crucial position in any format, for Bangladesh against Zimbabwe in the first ODI of the tri-nation series at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka Monday and the ace all-rounder played a good innings. The left-hander played yet another good innings against Sri Lanka at the same venue Friday. Bangladesh made a good opening stand of 71 runs. After Anamul Haque got out, Shakib came out to bat and formed a 99-run partnership with Tamim Iqbal for the second wicket. Shakib eventually scored 67 off 63 balls with seven boundaries. Shakib’s back-to-back boundaries, courtesy some confident pull shots in the 26th over against Nuwan Pradeep were a sign that the left-hander is enjoying his new role at No 3.Thisara’s brilliant 49th overBangladesh were cruising at the end of their innings and with plenty of wickets in hand, it seemed 330-340 was well on the cards. But Thisara Perara bowled a superb 49th over at the death, conceding only four runs, including the wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim. Mushfiq was cleaned up by a yorker after scoring 62 of 52 balls. Thisara has improved his bowling, particularly in the slog overs, in the last few months and it was clearly evident in that last over. Thisara bowled well in the recently concluded BPL 5 for Rangpur Riders and won a close match defending a small total.Nasir rattles Kusal’s defense earlySri Lanka needed an aggressive start at the top of the innings to chase down a challenging 321-run target set by host Bangladesh. A lot was dependent on Kusal Perera as the left-hander is a natural stroke-maker. Bangladesh captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza gave the ball to Nasir Hossain as both the Sri Lanka openers are left-handed. And guess what, Nasir produced exactly the same result that his captain and team wanted. Nasir cleaned up Kusal in the first ball of the third over. Kusal charged down the track and missed it completely as the middle stump was rattled. Bangladesh got a flying start and Sri Lanka were under pressure straightaway.Thisara blasts Shakib for 4, 6, 4, 6, then gets caughtControlled bowling performance at the middle maintained Bangladesh’s dominance as the Sri Lanka batsmen were unable to match the asking rate, and the game was slipping away from their hands. Shakib took back-to-back wickets in the 26th over, dismissing Asela Gunaratne and Hasaranga de Silva to seal the deal for the Tigers. Big hitter Thisara was at the non-striker’s end and watching his team slowly fall apart. But slight excitement came in the 30th over when Thisara struck 4, 6, 4 and 6 off Shakib’s first four balls. The left-hander again tried to clear the boundary in the fifth ball but this time around, he was caught by Mahmudullah at long off. So 20 from four balls by Thisara but Shakib had the last laugh in the end.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
