Bangladesh 237 for 6 (Tanzid 84, Rishad 48*, Kumara 4-48) beat Sri Lanka 235 (Liyanage 101*, Asalanka 37, Taskin 3-42) by four wickets
Rishad came to the crease with Bangladesh needing 58 runs to win in 13.5 overs. He opened his account with a first-ball six off Wanindu Hasranga, before pasting him for a four and another six in the same over. He slammed two more sixes, off Hasaranga, in the 40th over that cost Sri Lanka 24 runs. In all, Rishad took 40 runs off Hasaranga, from just 11 deliveries.
Mustafizur Rahman cramped up in the 48th over before Soumya injured his neck and knee in a boundary line crash on the advertisement boards. In the last over, substitute fielder Jaker Ali collided with Anamul Haque, who completed the catch. Jaker had to be hospitalized with a concussion.
It wasn’t just the players whose fitness was tested in this game, with umpire Tanvir Ahmed taking Richard Kettleborough’s place after the latter fell sick due to the heat.
Bangladesh openers Anamul and Tanzid calmed things down, adding fifty for the opening stand.
Anamul however became the first of Kumara’s four victims from his first spell. Anamul lofted a drive to cover after making 12. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto fell in Kumara’s next over, edging behind after just making one run.
Tanzid batted serenely meanwhile, hitting six of his nine fours through cover and mid-off. He dealt well with the fast short ball too, hitting two boundaries slightly fine of the square-leg fielder, and two more through midwicket. Tanzid took a liking to Kumara, slashing him for a six as he took 30 off 19 balls from the fast bowler.
Soon after reaching his second ODI fifty, Tanzid survived a run-out chance in the 17th over when a throw from mid-off struck the stumps but the bails didn’t fall with Tanzid well short of the crease. He added 49 runs for the third wicket with Towhid Hridoy, to steady the Bangladesh chase.
Kumara removed Hridoy and Mahmudullah in his third spell, to get his first four-wicket haul in ODIs. Hasaranga got into wickets in the 26th over when Tanzid mistimed one to long-off. It was a reckless dismissal as Bangladesh were 130 for five.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy Hasan Miraz had to shut down shop, adding 48 runs for the sixth wicket. Mehidy made 25 before holing out in the deep midwicket boundary, leaving the stage for Rishad to do his thing.
Taskin had opened up the Sri Lanka innings with the wickets of openers Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando. While the latter was caught behind clearly, Nissanka strangely didn’t take a review when he was given lbw. Replays showed that the ball would have headed down the leg-stump.
Fernando was caught behind the wicket for the third game in a row, before Mustafizur Rahman removed Sadeera Samarawickrama for 14. Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis carelessly edged legspinner Rishad Hossain after reaching 29.
Liyanage added 43 runs for the fifth wicket with Charith Asalanka, before Sri Lanka lost their way, slipping to 154 for seven in the 35th over. Liyanage however didn’t allow the innings to slide down, instead adding 60 runs for the eighth wicket with Maheesh Theekshana.
The pair batted out thirteen overs before Theekshana holed out in the square-leg boundary after Soumya replaced the injured Mustafizur to finish the 48th over.
Pramod Madushan’s catch caused a collision between Anamul and substitute Jaker. In between these two injuries, Soumya hurt his neck and knee in a boundary-line collision with the advertisement board. Bangladesh however overcame the panic of all these injuries and the six wickets, with the big win.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
