Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka, knock India out
Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka by 5 wickets (D/L Method) on Tuesday to enter the Asia Cup final against Pakistan on Thursday knocking India out of the tournament.
Winning the toss and choosing to bowl first, Nazmul Hossain’s triple strike set up Bangladesh well. Sri Lanka lost their big three – Mahela Jayawardene (5), Kumar Sangakkara (6) and Royal Challengers Bangalore allrounder Tillakaratne Dilshan (19), reeling at 32/3 in 9.2 overs.
Chamara Kapugedara (62), Lahiru Thirimanne and Upul Tharanga (48 each) led a fightback in two partnerships of 88 and 49 for the 4th and 5th wickets before another collapse saw SL slide to 204/8 from 169/4. Sachithra Senanayake (19) and Lasith Malinga (10) chipped in at the end to take Sri Lanka to 232 before they were bowled out in 49.2 overs.
Nazmul was the star for Bangladesh with his 3/32 while Abdur Razzak and Shakib weighed in with 2 wickets each.
Rain delayed the start of the Bangladesh chase and when play resumed they were set a revised target of 212 from 40 overs.
The chase was in dire straits at 39/3 with Nuwan Kulasekara playing the tormentor. Tamim Iqbal (59) hung around though to add 76 runs with Shakib Al Hasan (56) for the 4th wicket. Sri Lanka got another opening when Senanayake struck twice at the end of his unbroken spell to remove Iqbal and Shakib, leaving Bangladesh at 135/5 from 116/3.
Nasir Hossain (36*) and Mahmudullah (32*) however settled things calmly, denying Sri Lanka any further strikes and taking Bangladesh to 212/5 in 37.1 overs with an unbeaten 77 run partnership for the 6th wicket.
The win drew them level on the points table with India at 8 points from two wins. They edged ahead to the final based on the tournament’s first tie-breaker consideration of head to head wins having beaten India in their league encounter. Pakistan too won two games but their win against Sri Lanka came with a bonus point and put them on top of the points table with 9 points.
Pakistan and Bangladesh will play the final of the Asia Cup at the Shere Bangla Stadium in Mirpur on Thursday.
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