SL v BAN, 3rd ODI Review : Sri Lanka cruise to easy victory at Colombo to level series 1-1

It has been a competitive one-day series between the two nations Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which has seen some superb performances with both bat and the ball. Bangladesh played wonderfully well in the first One Day International at Dambulla which they won by 90 runs. The second ODI which was also at the same venue as the first one failed to produce any result marking the last one as a must win game for Sri Lanka.

In the third One-Day International between the two sides at Colombo, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl first. Sri Lanka came out strong with the bat as their openers put up a decent 76 run stand for the opening wicket. Both Upul Tharanga and Danushka Gunathilaka got off to a good start but failed to reach the 50 run mark as they departed for 35 and 34 respectively.

Kusal Mendis played a brilliant knock for the Sri Lankans scoring 54 of 62 balls hitting 7 boundaries. Meanwhile, Dinesh Chandimal discovered a new way of getting himself run out in the match. It was a Shakib Al Hasan delivery which Chandimal played on the off side and looked for a couple of runs. The Sri Lankan duo ran the first one hard but during the second run Chandimal became a bit too lethargic and tried to jog and reach the other end.

Taskin Ahmed collected the ball in the outfield and was mighty quick to throw it back to his wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim who dislodged the bells as soon as he received the ball. Chandimal by that time had reached to the striker’s end but his foot and bat were in the air at the time the bells were taken off by the Bangladeshi wicketkeeper. The Bangladeshi’s appealed collectively and the decision went to the third umpire who taking some close looks at the incident judged the batsman out. The Sri Lankans, as a result, lost an important wicket and Dinesh Chandimal had to pay the price for his lethargic running.

The Bangladeshi’s appealed collectively and the decision went to the third umpire who taking some close looks at the incident judged the batsman out. The Sri Lankans, as a result, lost an important wicket and Dinesh Chandimal had to pay the price for his lethargic running.

All-rounder Thisara Perera played a good knock lower down the order hitting the ball all around the park. The left-hander struck 52 runs from just 40 deliveries helping Sri Lanka record a decent total of 280 runs on the board. Chasing the score put up by their opponents, Bangladesh faltered right from the start as Nuwan Kulasekara grabbed two quick wickets early in the innings. Bangladesh found themselves three down for 11 at one stage and it looked quite possible that they would be dismissed under 100 if not Soumya Sarkar and Shakib Al Hasan steadied the innings.

Bangladesh was slowly getting back into the match when Sri Lankan off-spinner Dilruwan Perera picked up both batsmen cheaply to dismantle the Bangladeshi lineup.  Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals failing to get a partnership going which saw them 8 down for 155 runs. Low down the order, Mehedi Hasan scored a wonderful 50 but it was all too late for Bangladesh. Nuwan Kulasekara picked up the remaining two wickets ending the Bangladesh innings which helped the Sri Lankan lions level the series 1-1.

As far as the bowling is concerned Mashrafe Mortaza was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh as he picked up 3 crucial wickets whereas Nuwan Kulasekara dominated the proceedings for Sri Lanka. Kulasekara was well supported by all the other Sri Lankan bowlers who all played their part in the huge 70 run win restricting Bangladesh to 210. Thisara Perera was declared the man of the match for his outrageous knock of 52 and Kusal Mendis took the man of the series award for his tally of 160 runs in the series.

Brief Scores 

Sri Lanka 280/9 in 50 overs (Kusal Mendis 54, Thisara Perera 52, Mashrafe Mortaza 3/65) 

Bangladesh 210 all-out in 44.3 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 54, Mehedi Hasan 51, Nuwan Kulasekara 4/37) 

Sri Lanka won by 70 runs