Sabbir Rahman and bowlers sink Sri Lanka

Sabbir Rahman played the innings of his life to give Bangladesh their 1^st ever victory over Sri Lanka in T20 cricket. Player of the match Rahman made 80 off just 54 balls to rescue Bangladesh from yet another wobbly start to register a historic 23 run win over the visitors.

The conditions at the Shere Bangla National Stadium were different from what we have seen so far in the Asia Cup, with the pitch offering less help for the pace bowlers this time around. That didn’t deter the Sri Lankan bowlers though as both Angelo Mathews and Nuwan Kulasekara struck in their 1^st overs. Mathews took the reins for the Lankans as Lasith Malinga sat this one out with a knee injury he sustained in the previous game. He took the

new ball alongside Kulasekara and troubled the batsmen, striking in just his 2^nd delivery when he had Mohammed Mithun trapped in front. Kulasekara had Sarkar caught at mid-off in the very next over as the hosts tumbled to 2/2 after 2 overs. Mushfiqur Rahim and Rahman got into an ugly mix up and the former was halfway down the pitch when Mathews took the bails off at the striker’s end. This brought Shakib Al Hasan to the crease and he put on 82 runs for the 4^th wicket alongside Rahman. Mathews seemed to take his foot off the pedal in the middle overs, allowing Shakib to get in, using Shehan Jayasuriya and TM Dilshan at one end. Rahman brought up his half century with a slog which was pushed over the rope by the fielder at deep mid-wicket, Chamara Kapugedara, in what turned out to be a critical moment of the match. When Rahman was finally dismissed, he had made 80 of the 108 runs scored. A flurry of boundaries in the last four overs from Shakib and Mahmudullah saw the Bangladeshis notch up a very competitive total of 147.

Dushmantha Chameera was brought into the attack in the 13^th over and was bowled through at one end, picking up 3 wickets along the way while Kulasekara and Mathews picked up a wicket a piece. Sri Lanka would be disappointed with their inability to pick up wickets in the middle overs as Mathews allowed the Rahman-Shakib partnership to meander along. At the innings break, Shakib seemed to think that they were a few runs short but Sri Lanka’s recent performances with the bat did not really inspire confidence for the visitors.

Taskin Ahmed nearly gave Bangladesh a dream start, drawing a knick from Chandimal’s bat in the 1^st over but the catch was put down at 2^nd slip by Sarkar. Chandimal went on to be the top scorer for the Lankans, making a run a ball 37. Dilshan fell early when Sarkar made up for his early lapse with a brilliant running catch down the ground. Jayasuriya was promoted up the order as Sri Lanka continued the experiments with the batting order, he got off to a brisk start but the runs dried up in the middle overs once again, allowing the required rate to continue to rise. Chandimal went playing a reverse sweep to the off spin of Mahmudullah as panic began to set in. Jayasuriya was stumped in the very next over, out-foxed by a wide delivery by Shakib. Thisera Perera was pushed up the order to make some quick runs but was no match for the impressive Mustafizur Rahman, who had him trapped LBW. Milinda Siriwardene was the next to go, once again caught in the deep as SrI Lanka were left needing 60 off the last 6 overs with 5 wickets in hand. As long as Mathews was at the crease, there was still some hope for the Lankans but he fell off the bowling of Al Amin Hossain, the required rate sky rocketing as the boundaries dried up completely.

Big hitters they may be, but coming in at 7 and 8, Dasun Shanaka and Chamara Kapugedara were left too much to do with too little time; both of them gave a glimpse of their capabilities, smashing a big six each. Sri Lanka ended up losing a couple more wickets to finish on 124/8.

The Bangladeshis have had a phenomenal time in the ODI arena in the recent past but today they showed their class in the T20s. Young Mustafizur is perhaps the most impressive bowler to emerge over the last year and he was exceptional in the death overs once again. Shakib was as good as he always is while Al Amin picked up 3 wickets in the late stages of the Lankan innings as the batsmen went for their shots.

Sri Lanka will next face tournament favourites India on the 1^st of March in what will be a must-win game.