Playing their first Asia Cup 2025 fixture, Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by six wickets. They took over the second spot in the Group B points table, sandwiched between Afghanistan and tonight’s opponents based on NRR.
Bangladesh came off a strong win against Hong Kong a couple of nights back. They also clinched the Colombo series against the same opponents. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, haven’t had the best couple of months. Their month started with an 80-all out against Zimbabwe. But they once again brought their best in the multi-national event to be one step closer to the Super Fours.
Sri Lanka were off to a dream start, with both openers returning for ducks in two overs. But the real damage was done by Wanindu Hasaranga. Coming into the eighth over, he took out Mahedi Hasan (9) on his second ball. He then toyed with the skipper Litton Das. Two deliveries later, however, Litton survived a plumb out with a smart review when he was at 18 off 20. The over ended with a four. But Litton didn’t survive for long. The No.3 batter attempted to hold the fort, but he looked uncomfortable. Hasaranga, into the attack again, pulled back the strings as he did not leak many runs. The 10th over was a quiet over as Litton and Jaker Ali attempted to settle. But the spinner spun his web to take out the captain on the penultimate delivery. Litton walked back, making 28 off 26, while Hasaranga completed his four-over quota with 2/25, including eight dots.
It must have been difficult to rebuild the innings, but given Sri Lanka’s overdependence on the captain, it wasn’t a new challenge for Jaker Ali and Shamim Hossain. After the fifth wicket fell at 53 runs, the duo stitched a partnership of 86 off 61 balls. Their logic was simple: stick to the basics and steal a couple of boundaries when possible. The spin attack was getting on their nerves, but they calmly nicked singles and doubles to take the team’s total to 139. Though it’s not a decent total, especially in the 20-over format, Jaker and Shamim’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed. Jaker’s 41 off 34 included two fours, while Shamim hit one more boundary along with a solitary six for Bangladesh.
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After a mundane first innings, Pathum Nissanka and Kamil Mishara turned up the heat in the Asia Cup 2025 fixture. After Kusal Mendis was dismissed for three, Nissanka and Mishara smacked boundaries to finish quickly and boost the NRR. The Galle batter went on to complete 2,000 T20I runs with his 18th half-century in the format. His 34-ball 50 was laced with six boundaries and a six. The duo were just five runs short of a 100-run partnership for the second wicket before Nissanka fell to an outstanding catch by Shoriful Islam.
Bangladesh tried to forge a comeback with the wickets of Kusal Perera (9) and Dasun Shanaka (1), but they didn’t have many runs to defend. The youngster Mishara, playing just his sixth T20I, hit the winning runs in the 15th over. The southpaw remained unbeaten at 46 off 32, striking four boundaries and two sixes.
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