Bangladesh cricket remained medal-less in the Asian Games for the first time after the cricket discipline was introduced in the multi-sport event.
After the women's team, the men"s team also failed to secure the bronze medal in the cricket event as Sri Lanka beat them by 63 runs at Korogo Sports Park in Nagoya, Japan today.
After reducing Sri Lanka to 21-4 early in the innings, Bangladesh lost control of the game as Sri Lanka recovered to post 165-9 in 20 overs.
In reply, Bangladesh were bowled out for 102 before completing their 20 overs.
Chasing 166, Bangladesh suffered a disastrous start as Saif Hasan was dismissed for a duck from six balls. Tanzid Hasan followed for another duck off two balls, while captain Litton Das also departed without scoring from his first delivery, meaning all three top order batters were out for duck. That left Bangladesh to a precarious four for three.
Parvez Hossain Emon and Towhid Hridoy attempted to steady the innings, but Bangladesh continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.
Emon made 22 off 26 balls, while Hridoy scored 11 off six. Yasir Ali contributed 21 off 16 balls and Rishad Hossain made a quick 10 off five.
Nasum Ahmed top-scored for Bangladesh with 26 off 28 balls, but his effort only reduced the margin of defeat.
Earlier, Bangladesh's bowlers made an excellent start, removing four Sri Lankan batters for just 21 runs. However, Sahan Arachchige and Tharindu Ratnayake rebuilt the innings with an important partnership.
Ratnayake smashed 65 off 32 balls, hitting seven fours and five sixes, to change the momentum of the match.
Sri Lanka particularly took advantage of the 14th over, bowled by Mustafizur Rahman, which yielded 25 runs. Bangladesh also missed a catch later in the innings as Sri Lanka went on to post a competitive total..
Saif Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman and Mahedi Hasan took two wickets each for Bangladesh.
