An inspiring performance from Bangladesh saw them seal their first-ever T20I series win over Sri Lanka, securing a comfortable 8-wicket victory in the third and final game played today (16th July) at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo to take the series 2-1.
After opting to bat first, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis raced to 14 runs off the first five balls from Shoriful Islam. However, on the final ball of the over, Mendis was caught at the backward square leg boundary by Towhid Hridoy.
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Mahedi Hasan made an immediate impact by dismissing Kusal Perera for a golden duck. He continued to rip through Sri Lanka’s batting order—first removing Dinesh Chandimal, who was playing his first T20I in three years and failed to make an impact, and then knocking over skipper Charith Asalanka’s off stump.
After hanging in for a while, Nissanka fell short of a fifty, offering a return catch to Mahedi, who finished with an outstanding spell of 4 for 11 from his full quota. Kamindu Mendis tried to counterattack, hitting a four and a six off Tanzim Hasan Sakib. But he was soon dismissed in the next over after attempting a reverse sweep off Shamim Hossain, hitting it straight to backward point.
Sri Lanka somehow managed to post 132 for 7 in their 20 overs, largely thanks to Dasun Shanaka’s unbeaten 35. He struck two fours and two sixes in the final over bowled by Shoriful, who went for 50 in his 4 overs while picking up one wicket.
Defending a modest total, Nuwan Thushara struck early with the very first ball of the chase, trapping Parvez Hossain LBW.
However, Bangladesh recovered quickly, scoring 47 runs in the powerplay without further loss. Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das shared a 74-run stand for the second wicket, taking Bangladesh to a commanding position. Kamindu Mendis removed Litton for 32 to break the partnership, but the required rate remained well below 6.
Tanzid confidently took on the Sri Lankan spinners, clearing the boundary six times on his way to a 27-ball half-century. He added an unbroken 59-run partnership with Towhid Hridoy to seal a historic series win for the visitors, leaving Sri Lanka with plenty of headaches.
Earlier, Sri Lanka made two changes from the second match, bringing in Dinesh Chandimal and Kamindu Mendis for Avishka Fernando and Chamika Karunaratne.
Despite winning the previous game, Bangladesh also made a couple of changes—off-spinning all-rounder Mahedi Hasan and pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib returned to the XI, while Mehidy Hasan and Mohammad Saifuddin sat out.
Teams:
Sri Lanka – Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (WK), Kusal Perera, Dinesh Chandimal, Charith Asalanka (C), Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Jeffrey Vandersay, Maheesh Theekshana, Binura Fernando, Nuwan Thushara
Bangladesh – Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain, Litton Das (C & WK), Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c & b Mahedi Hasan | 46 | 39 | 4 | 0 | 117.95 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Towhid Hridoy b Shoriful Islam | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 150.00 |
| Kusal Perera | c Tanzid Hasan b Mahedi Hasan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | c Jaker Ali b Mahedi Hasan | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Charith Asalanka | b Mahedi Hasan | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 37.50 |
| Kamindu Mendis | c Tanzim Hasan Sakib b Shamim Hossain | 21 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 140.00 |
| Dasun Shanaka | not out | 35 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 140.00 |
| Jeffery Vandersay | c Tanzim Hasan Sakib b Mustafizur Rahman | 7 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Maheesh Theekshana | not out | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Extras | 4 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 3, pen 0) |
| Total | 132/7 (20 Overs, RR: 6.6) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoriful Islam | 4 | 0 | 50 | 1 | 12.50 | |
| Mahedi Hasan | 4 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 2.75 | |
| Mustafizur Rahman | 4 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 4.25 | |
| Tanzim Hasan Sakib | 2 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 11.50 | |
| Shamim Hossain | 2 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 5.00 | |
| Rishad Hossain | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 5.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parvez Hossain Emon | lbw b Nuwan Thushara | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Tanzid Hasan | not out | 73 | 47 | 1 | 6 | 155.32 |
| Liton Das | c Kusal Perera b Kamindu Mendis | 32 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 123.08 |
| Towhid Hridoy | not out | 27 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 108.00 |
| Extras | 1 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 133/2 (16.3 Overs, RR: 8.06) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nuwan Thushara | 3 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 8.33 | |
| Binura Fernando | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 5.50 | |
| Maheesh Theekshana | 3.3 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 9.09 | |
| Charith Asalanka | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 16.00 | |
| Jeffery Vandersay | 4 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 7.25 | |
| Kamindu Mendis | 3 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 7.00 | |
 at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo to take the series 2-1.){kind=link}