Bangladesh stand-in captain Tamim Iqbal blamed failures of all three departments for the 91-run defeat against host Sri Lanka in the first game of the three-match ODI series at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo Friday.
The Tigers, despite some poor bowling and fielding pulled Sri Lanka back, and were set 315 to chase.
But the possible task was denied with a top-order debacle, and then a 111-run partnership between Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman ending in a wrong time of the game.
“We started poorly with the ball and gave away way too easy boundaries to them, especially to [Kusal] Perera. If you see, his first six or seven boundaries had come from really bad balls. I thought at one point Sri Lanka were looking to score 350 or 360. And then we came back really strong in the game. The wicket was really good and 310 [315] was a decent score to chase. At half-time we were happy. We believed that we had a chance of chasing this down. But the whole batting was disappointing. Starting from the top till the end, it was disappointing,” said a dejected Tamim in the post-match press conference following the game.
Bangladesh’s batting sorrows started with Tamim getting dismissed for a duck in the fifth ball of the chase.
Lasith Malinga, playing his last ODI, delivered his trademark yorker to get rid of Tamim.
Since my arrival in Colombo and whilst going to places related to cricket in the island, one discussion has been common – the farewell of the county’s pace legend Lasith Malinga.https://t.co/qYYWjUEEpR#LASITHMALINGA #LASITH #MALINGA #SRILANKA #CRICKET #SLC #SRILANKACRICKET
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) July 26, 2019
The Bangladesh captain for the series could barely stand the classic Malinga delivery and continued his pale patch that he has been carrying since the World Cup 2019 in England and Wales.
“Not only me, but every batsman knows that he is going to york you. But then there are a few deliveries you cannot do anything about. If you see my dismissal, it swung at the last moment. What can you do about it? I tried my best, I thought on the third ball I defended a very nice yorker, but that ball was too good for me. I put my hands up for that delivery,” Tamim explained his dismissal.
Bangladesh to keep alive their hope in the series have no option but to win the second game at the same venue tomorrow.
Tamim believes a regroup can bring the unit back, but for that, the players need to take responsibility.
“We are still in the competition. I think we just have to regroup and the main thing is, if you want to do anything in this series you will have to take the responsibility. People who gets starts and batting at 50, 60 or 70 will have to take responsibility and score big. We lost three early wickets and then Mushy [Mushfiq] and Sabbir were batting, we were going well. The run-rate was not an issue even if you see at the end we were bowled out, but the score was 223. If there were batsmen in the middle, we would have chased 70 or 80 in the last 10. But we never gave ourselves that opportunity. I think Mushfiq and Sabbir’s partnership was the key, but Sabbir got out in the wrong time,” Tamim said.
1ST ODI
SRI LANKA INNINGS R B
Fernando c Soumya b Shafiul 7 13
Karunaratne c Mustafizur b Miraz 36 37
Kusal c Mustafizur b Soumya 111 99
Mendis c Mushfiq b Rubel 43 49
Mathews c Sabbir b Mustafizur 48 52
Thirimanne c Soumya b Mustafizur 25 30
Thisara c Soumya b Shafiul 2 3
De Silva c Sabbir b Shafiul 18 12
Malinga not out 6 6
Pradeep not out 0 0
Extras (lb 1, nb 1, w 16) 18
Total (50 Overs) 314/8
Fall Of Wickets
1-10 (Fernando), 2-107 (Karunaratne), 3-207 (Kusal), 4-212 (Mendis), 5-272 (Thirimanne), 6-276 (Thisara), 7-302 (Mathews), 8-309 (De Silva)
Bowling
Shafiul 9-0-62-3, Miraz 9-0-56-1, Rubel 9-0-54-1, Mosaddek 7-0-45-0, Mustafizur 10-0-75-2, Soumya 5-0-17-1, Mahmudullah 1-0-4-0
BANGLADESH INNINGS R B
Tamim b Malinga 0 5
Soumya b Malinga 15 22
Mithun lbw b Pradeep 10 21
Mushfiq c Mendis b Pradeep 67 86
Mahmudullah c sub b Kumara 3 10
Sabbir c Fernando b De Silva 60 56
Mosaddek run out (Mendis) 12 16
Miraz c Mendis b De Silva 2 5
Shafiul b Pradeep 2 9
Rubel not out 6 6
Mustafizur c Thisara b Malinga 18 14
Extras (lb 4, w 24) 28
Total (41.4 Overs) 223 all out
Fall Of Wickets
1-1 (Tamim), 2-30 (Mithun), 3-30 (Soumya), 4-39 (Mahmudullah), 5-150 (Sabbir), 6-182 (Mosaddek), 7-187 (Miraz), 8-199 (Mushfiq), 9-200 (Shafiul), 10-223 (Mustafizur)
Bowling
Malinga 9.4-2-38-3, Pradeep 9-1-51-3, Thisara 6-0-36-0, Kumara 7-0-45-1, De Silva 10-0-49-2
Sri Lanka won by 91 runs
