Charith Asalanka’s fine century, aided by spin wizardry from Wanindu Hasaranga and Kamindu Mendis, saw Sri Lanka take a 1-0 lead in their five-game ODI series against Bangladesh at the Khettarama Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday evening. The visitors were cruising at 99/1 in their chase of 245, but inexplicably collapsed to a scarcely believable 105/8, and eventually ended up losing by 77 runs. Here are our main talking points from the fixture.
Miraz first game as captain
This was Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s first game as Bangladesh ODI captain. The all-rounder been talked of as a leader from his junior days- he lead Bangladesh at the 2016 U19 World Cup, and interestingly his opposite number here- Charith Asalanka, captained Sri Lanka at that very tournament as well.
On the evidence of this performance though, the road to qualification for the next World Cup appears to be a long and tough one for Bangladesh. There is a reason Melbet in BD had the visitors as huge underdogs for this tour- they’ve never won an ODI series in SL before, and had lost six on the bounce in this format coming into this fixture.
Mehidy himself had a forgettable outing- he was outbowled by debutant Tanvir Islam, and only managed a two-ball duck with the bat before falling to Hasaranga.
Asalanka century
Charith Asalanka has been Sri Lanka’s best batsman for quite some time now, and underlined his class with another fine century. Asalanka made 106 with the bat- more than what the rest of SL’s top 7 managed together between them, and helped the hosts reach a competitive total of 244, which in the end proved too much for Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka hit a total of 5 sixes in their innings- Asalanka himself had 4 of them to his name.
In hindsight, not qualifying for the Champions Trophy has been a bit of a blessing in disguise for Sri Lanka- it’s allowed them do away with the old guard, and rebuild with younger players.
Shanto run out
If there was ever a turning point in this game, this was probably the one. Bangladesh were 99/1 in the 17th over, well on course to comfortably chase down 245. Then Najmul Hassan Shanto decided to take on the arm of Lankan debutant Milan Rathnayake in the deep for an ill-advised second, and was run out by inches despite making a desperate dive at the end.
That run out, coupled with Janith Liyanage’s stunning catch to dismiss the well-settled Tanzid Hasan, saw Bangladesh go from 100/1 to 105/8 as their middle order crumbled at the Khettarama- one of the worst collapses in modern ODI history.
Shanto though looked decent in his stay at the wicket- there was always the hope that he’d do better with the bat after stepping down as captain, and he looked a happier cricketer on the pitch.
Hasaranga and Mendis spin a web around Bangladesh
Sri Lanka’s spin attack is a pretty good one, especially in home conditions, and Wanindu Hasaranga and Kamindu Mendis provided another example of it on Wednesday evening- the duo took 8/29 between them in 13 odd overs. Hasaranga in particular was borderline unplayable for the visitors (4/10 in 7.5 overs)
Decent debut for Tanvir Islam
There were three debutants in this game- two from Bangladesh in the form of spinner Tanvir Islam and opener Emon, and as mentioned earlier, Rathnayake for Sri Lanka.
Tanvir gave a pretty good account of himself- he was economical in the starting stages and was more of a threat than Mehidy, and also got the crucial wicket of Kusal Mendis just as the latter was beginning to cut loose.
He finished with figures of 1/44 from his 10, and gave away only 3 boundaries- pretty tidy returns, all things considered.