Twitter Reactions: Fernando, Mathews star in Sri Lanka’s resounding series triumph over Bangladesh

After a clinical show in the first ODI against Tamim Iqbal’s Bangladesh, Sri Lanka turned up with another decent performance in the second match at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The Islanders comfortably won the encounter by seven wickets. Most importantly, the hosts took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series with one game left at the same venue on Wednesday, July 31.

Rahim comes to Bangladesh’s rescue  

On a slow turner, both teams opted for an extra spinner and it wasn’t surprising. The Tigers won the toss, but could only manage a reasonable score of 238/8 in 50 overs. The top-order faltered again as all of Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, and Mohammad Mithun perished after getting into double figures. Akila Dananjaya castled Mahmudullah and reduced the visiting team to 68/4 in 19 overs.

Sabbir Rahman perished to a run-out and half the Bangladesh team was back into the hut. Isuru Udana bounced out Mosaddek Hossain to leave the Tigers innings in the shambles. However, Mushfiqur Rahim (98*) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (43) put their heads down for an 84-run stand. Though Mushfiqur remained stranded on 98, he would’ve been happy to bail his team out of the precarious position.

Another comfortable win for Lanka

Avishka Fernando (82) took on the opposition bowling to start Lanka’s run-chase. His skipper Dimuth Karunaratne (15) took his time initially. Bangladesh attacked with their tweakers to start with, but couldn’t make an early breakthrough. Miraz cleaned up Karunaratne and then Fernando got to a fifty off 43 balls. Kusal Perera (30) looked decent in the middle and fell prey to Mustafizur Rahman.

Mustafizur removed the dangerous Fernando to bring the Tigers back into the match. Kusal Mendis (41) and Angelo Mathews (52) didn’t play shots out of anger and staved off the likes of Taijul Islam, who was getting sharp turn. The duo was circumspect and didn’t panic despite playing out dot balls.

Sabbir’s first over produced seven runs and a boundary by Mendis off a long-hop broke the shackles. Thereafter, there was no stopping them. Barring Mustafizur, Taijul, and Mehidy, the rest of the bowlers couldn’t make much of an impact and Lanka romped over the line with 32 deliveries to spare.

Here is how Twitter lauded Sri Lanka on the series victory