Bangladesh need 258 to win against Sri Lanka

Sadeera Samarawickrama played a cameo to help Sri Lanka set a target of 258 runs in 50 overs to Bangladesh in the Super Four of the Asia Cup on Saturday.

After being invited to bat first at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lankan opener got a good start against Bangladeshi bowlers. They collected 51 runs in the Mandatory Powerplay losing just one wicket.

Sri Lanka were then moving forward strongly with the partnership of Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis. The pair ended on 74 runs when the team score was on 108. Nissanka went back to the pavilion by Shoriful Islam on his 40. Shoriful helped the team to come back to the game picking up Mendis (50) too in his very next over. Till now, Sri Lanka collected 131 runs after 30 overs.

After that, Sadeera Samarawickrama played a quickfire knock of 93 runs from 72 balls towards the end to help the team go on 257/9 in 50 overs. Dimuth Karunaratne (18), Charith Asalanka (10) and Dasun Shanaka (24) added some notable runs on the board for Sri Lanka.

Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud were the picks of the bowlers from the Bangladesh side who bagged three wickets each. Besides, Shorful Islam got two wickets. Shakib Al Hasan and Nasum Ahmed restricted the run rate conceding 44 and 31 runs respectively despite not getting any wickets.

Bangladesh made one change to their playing XI, bringing in left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed for his first match in the tournament in place of Afif Hossain.

The Tigers lost their opening match in the Super Four by seven wickets in Lahore against Pakistan. If they lose against Sri Lanka today, their chances to play in the final of the Asia Cup will be gone away from them.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, are on a 12-match winning streak in ODIs and are one win away from becoming the holders of the second-longest winning streak in ODI history.

Playing XIs

Bangladesh: Mohammad Naim, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Shamim Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Nasum Ahmed

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis(w), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Matheesha Pathirana.

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