Stats: Sri Lanka register a big win in Lasith Malinga’s farewell ODI

Lasith Malinga got a perfect farewell to his 15-year long ODI career as Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 91 runs in the first of the three-match ODI series. Kusal Perera’s 99-ball 111 included 17 fours and a six as the hosts looked set to post a big total. However, lack of acceleration in the latter half saw the Lankans settle down for 314/8.

A brilliant opening spell from Malinga had Bangladesh four down for only 39 runs on the board. Mushfiqur Rahim (67) and Sabbir Rahman (60) rescued the chase with a 111-run 5th wicket partnership. However, the Lankans broke the stand and put an end to their hopes. Malinga picked up the last wicket to sign off in a grand style.

All the major stats and numbers recorded during the first ODI between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh:

A horror venue for Bangladesh:

9 – Bangladesh has played nine ODI matches at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo; 7 against Sri Lanka and 2 against Pakistan. They lost in all those nine matches but this was their first ODI at this venue in more than ten years. No other team has lost more than seven ODIs at a venue without winning even one.

Sri Lanka starts with a win:

2015 – Last time Sri Lanka won the first match of a home ODI series was way back in 2015 when they whitewashed Windies in the 3-match series. Since then, Sri Lanka lost the first game of a home ODI series on five instances while the first ODI of the previous series; against England got washed out after a brief period of first innings.

A home ODI ton in two years:

17 – Kusal Perera’s century is the first century by a Sri Lankan in 17 ODI matches at home. The last ODI ton at home for Sri Lanka came in July 2017 when Niroshan Dickwella scored 116 against Zimbabwe.

A rare ODI for Bangladesh without seniors:

2014 – For the first time in more than five years, Bangladesh played an ODI without both Mashrafe Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan in the playing XI. The last such instance was during the 2014 Asia Cup against Afghanistan. Bangladesh featured in 92 consecutive ODI matches with either of them in the XI.

Malinga @ 50:

52 – Lasith Malinga claimed his 50th wicket in ODI cricket at the Colombo’s RPS with the wicket of Tamim Iqbal. Malinga is only the 15th player to bag 50+ ODI wickets at a single venue. Muttiah Muralitharan is the only player to achieve this feat at two different venues (RPS and Sharjah).

Malinga finishes off in style:

338 – Lasith Malinga ended his ODI career with 338 wickets with the three wickets in the first ODI. He finished as the 9th highest wicket-taker in the ODI format surpassing Anil Kumble’s 337 wickets.

14 – Lasith Malinga was part of a winning Sri Lankan team for first time in 14 International matches at home. Since the win against Zimbabwe in the 3rd ODI of the 5-match series in July 2017, Sri Lanka lost 10 ODIs and two T20Is when Malinga was in the playing XI.

A forgettable start for Tamim:

0 – Tamim Iqbal became the 14th captain for Bangladesh in ODI cricket but only the 2nd to open while leading the team. Habibul Bashar opened the innings in the 2004 Asia Cup game against India and got out for two runs.

Tamim Iqbal (5, 8) in the 2017 Christchurch Test against New Zealand and Shahriar Nafees (25) in the 2006 Khulna T20I against Zimbabwe are the other instances of a Bangladesh captain opening the innings in International cricket.