Tigers shot right back down to earth ahead of grand finale

High-flying Bangladesh were shot right back down to earth as Sri Lanka registered a 10-wicket victory in their tri-nation ODI series encounter at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka Thursday. With the win, Sri Lanka confirmed their place, at the expense of Zimbabwe, in the grand finale against the home side, scheduled for Saturday in Mirpur. The occasion was the third when Sri Lanka recorded a 10-wicket victory against the Tigers and the 12th time in history that Bangladesh faced the humiliation of a 10-wicket loss in the format. The host on the day also experienced a batting disaster after being packed for 82 all-out, the first time since 2014 Bangladesh got restricted within or below 100. In 2014, Bangladesh's batting was shamed twice, first against India in Dhaka when the host were dismissed for 58 and later against the West Indies in St George's when the Tigers were skittled out for 70.

Bangladesh leading the points table of Rocket Tri-Nation ODI Series 2018 ahead of the last group match against Sri Lanka. pic.twitter.com/40t9J0FYxE

— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) January 24, 2018

Bangladesh with three back-to-back wins and bonus points were the first side to confirm a berth in the final, leaving the two other teams to fight for the remaining place. Perhaps it was complacency that got the better of Bangladesh, who batted first after winning the toss, only to be bundled out within 24 overs. The defeat exposed Bangladesh's batting and the need to sort out the middle-order after the promotion of Shakib al Hasan to the No 3 position. Bangladesh lost Anamul Haque for a duck in just the third over with only five runs on the board. With two in-form batsmen in the form of Tamim Iqbal and Shakib in the middle, Bangladesh in their wildest dreams could not have envisaged what awaited them. The Shakib-Tamim partnership lasted only 13 deliveries as Shakib got run out on eight following a miscommunication while running between wickets. Only two deliveries later, Tamim departed for five, Bangladesh reeling on 16/3.

Bangladesh lost by 10 wickets against Sri Lanka in the 6th match of ROCKET Tri-Nation ODI Series 2018.#BANvSL pic.twitter.com/om9FvM3zTv

— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) January 25, 2018

From there, the home side managed only 66 more runs for the loss of their remaining seven wickets. Mushfiqur Rahim with 26 runs off 56 deliveries topped the dreadful Bangladesh innings while Sabbir Rahman could add only 10 to the tally. As it were, only Mushfiq and Sabbir reached double digit. Sri Lanka's Suranga Lakmal was key in removing the Bangladesh middle-order while Dushmantha Chameera and Lakshan Sandakan wiped out the tail. Lakmal topped the bowling chart for the Lankans with three wickets, that of Tamim, Anamul and Mahmudullah.

Before coming into this match Sri Lanka needed not to lose by around 70 runs or not allow Bangladesh to chase in 38 overs. But Sri Lanka dismissed Ban around 70 (82) & won with 38 overs left. What performance by Sri Lanka. #TriSeries #LKA

— Daniel Alexander (@daniel86cricket) January 25, 2018

Chasing the low total, the Sri Lanka openers took 11.5 overs to reach the shore without any loss. Upul Tharanga and Danushka Gunathilaka combining for some power hitting as the duo slammed five over-boundaries and four boundaries. Tharanga was unbeaten on 39 off 37 deliveries while Gunathilaka was undefeated on 35.BRIEF SCORESri Lanka 83 in 11.5 overs (Tharanga 39*, Gunathilaka 35*) beat Bangladesh 82 in 24 overs (Mushfiq 26, Lakmal 3/21) by 10 wickets POINTS TABLETeams M W L Pts NRRBangladesh 4 3 1 15 1.114Sri Lanka 4 2 2 9 0.146Zimbabwe 4 1 3 4 -1.087