Sri Lanka ‘A’ today won the 2nd Unofficial ODI against Bangladesh ‘A’ to level the 3-match series 1-1, with the last match scheduled to be played this Sunday at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. Sylhet was also the venue for today’s match.
Thisara Perera, the Sri Lanka ‘A’ captain, won the toss today for the 2nd consecutive time. In the 1st match he elected to bowl first after winning the toss but today he opted otherwise.
Wicket-keeper batsman Sadeera Samarawickrema was droped today after continuously failing in the tour. He was replaced by Minod Bhanuka, the only change in the Lankan line-up after the 2-run defeat in the 1st match.
Bangladesh made two changes to their winning team from the previous game. Afif Hossain, who has played 1 T20 for Bangladesh and Saif Hassan, who replaced Mizanur Rahman and Fazle Mahmud.
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As Sadeera was dropped, Lahiru Thirimanne paired up with Upul Tharanga at the top as openers for the visitors. However the change didn’t work-out as off-spinner Al-Amin dismissed Thirimanne in the 5th ball of the match.
Though the Bangladeshis’ succeeded in using an off-spinner against two left handers, they couldn’t continue with that tactic as Ashan Priyanjan who came in at no3 was a right-hander.
The two experienced batsmen, taking complete advantage of the left and right combination put on a 58-run partnership for the 2nd wicket before Priyanjan got out to teenager Nayeem Hasan for 21.
Upul Tharanga, had to see partners coming and going at the other end as Sammu Ashan (10) and the star for Sri Lanka ‘A’ in the 1st match, Dasun Shanaka (17) didn’t hang on long enough.
Tharanga himself got out for 44 in the 21st over when Sri Lanka’s score was 103. He was the 5th wicket to fall. Shehan Jayasuriya (12) and Minod Bhanuka (2) were also unable to make influential contributions.
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From 129/7 at 28.5 overs, Thisara Perera guided his team with an excellent knock of 111. He needed just 88 balls for his 111 and hit 5 sixes along with 9 fours during his match-saving inning.
Malinda Pushpakumara’s stay of 20-balls helped Perera add 77 valuable runs for the 8th wicket. Shehan Madushanka’s 36-ball inning of 36 runs also immensely helped the visitors to end their inning with a highly competitive score of 275 in the allotted 50 overs.
Nayeem Hasan was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts as he claimed impressive figures of 3/42 bowling all his 10 overs.
The run-chase for Bangladesh started with a hiccup right in the 2nd over as off-spinner Shehan Jayasuriya picked up the wicket of free-flowing opener Saumya Sarkar, who even then had scored 12 runs in just 5 balls.
After the early setback opener Saif Hassan and one-down batsman Zakir Hasan made the Lankan bowlers sweat as the duo comfortably added 53 runs for the 2nd wicket. Tall offie Nishan Peiris, then struck for the tourists with the prized wicket of Zakir Hasan, who had scored 32 runs off 27 deliveries. The score was 71 for 2 in 11.2 overs when this happened.
After the fall of Zakir, the hosts never looked like winning as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. None of the batting pairs really built up the starts they got. Partnerships of 20s and 30s were insufficient for them to reach the target set by the Lankans.
Al-Amin was the highest scorer for Bangladesh ‘A’ with a 65-ball 46. Mohamed Mithun and Ariful Haque couldn’t build on the starts they got, eventually handing Sri Lanka a series leveling win.
The two specialist spinners Malinda Pushpakumara and Nishan Peiris were instrumental for Sri Lanka ‘A’ in their defence of 276. Both of them took 3 wickets each. Shehan Madushanka, Dasun Shanaka, Shehan Jayasuriya and Ashan Priyanjan all picked up 1 wicket each.
The home team was bundled out for 208 in the 45th over resulting in a deserving win for the touring Sri Lanka ‘A’ by 67 runs.
