Tigers roar with team effort
For long-time watchers of Bangladesh cricket, yesterday's first ODI against Sri Lanka must have seemed strangely familiar. Within the first 10 overs of the innings the outcome was more or less certain. Halfway through the innings home fans were cheering every boundary scored, not because the hit to the fence furthered their team's chances of winning, but because it gave them something to cheer about after a long day of cricket.
It was familiar because Bangladeshi fans had endured such events in Mirpur countless times. It was strange because yesterday, the venue was the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium and the team swimming against the tide were the home team Sri Lanka. The hosts were at first subjected to a leather-hunt as Tamim Iqbal's eighth ODI ton drove Bangladesh to 324 for five, their highest score against Sri Lanka, before relying on a valiant yet futile half-century from Thisara Perera to be all out for 234 in 45.1 overs and lose the match by 90 runs.
In chase of the steep target, Sri Lanka were almost out of the running by the 11th over when pacer Taskin Ahmed rushed Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga into mistiming a pull to mid on to leave the hosts at 31 for three. That seemed to be the decisive derailment of a chase that got off to a bad start when Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza trapped opener Danushka Gunathilaka in front with the second ball of the innings and it got worse when Kusal Perera holed out to long on off debutant off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who opened the bowling with Mashrafe, in the sixth over.
There was a 56-run stand between Dinesh Chandimal and Asela Gunaratne, but Bangladesh's tight and incisive bowling in the first 10 overs meant that Sri Lanka were always playing catch-up and having to manufacture runs when not many were on offer from a Bangladesh unit on song. Gunaratne departed trying to do just that against Shakib Al Hasan, trying to reverse sweep a boundary but only managing to hit it in the air to backward point to be out for 24 in the 24th over.
Chandimal was Sri Lanka's last real hope at that point and he was beginning to hit his stride, hitting Shakib for a boundary in his next over before unfurling a classy cover drive off Miraz to reach his fifty in the 27th over. A reverse sweep for four followed in Miraz's next over, but the sweep proved to be Chandimal's undoing later in the same over, when he top edged to short fine leg to be out for 59 and leave his team at 121 for five and little to no hope of an unlikely victory.
Mustafizur Rahman then got among the wickets when Milinda Siriwardana hit him to deep square leg where Shuvagata Hom, substituting for centurion Tamim Iqbal, took a fine catch diving forward. When Mashrafe had Sachith Pathirana caught off a skier at midwicket to bring the score to 171 for seven, a huge win was on the cards, but Thisara Perera laid into the bowlers for a 35-ball 55 to bring the margin down in the company of the last three wickets.
Earlier, after Sri Lanka asked Bangladesh to bat first Tamim hit his eighth ODI ton and second in Sri Lanka as a team performance drove them to their highest score against Sri Lanka. Tamim paced his innings to perfection as he first played second fiddle during a 90-run second-wicket stand with Sabbir Rahman, who hit 54 off 56, then regrouped with Shakib following the twin dismissals of Sabbir and Mushfiqur.
It was then, with two quick wickets having fallen and Bangladesh at 120 for three in the 23rd over, that the game could have swung Sri Lanka's way. But Tamim kept his cool as Sri Lanka's spinners tried to put the squeeze on him. He played through the tough times and in the company of Shakib, who as always expertly picked the gaps to keep the score ticking, reached his half-century in the 26th over with a whipped single to midwicket off his 76th delivery.
The left-handed duo then took the score past 200, setting their stall to attack in the last 10 overs, and attack they did. Tamim went to 98 with a pulled four off Sandakan in the 42nd over and reached his ton with a nudge to the leg side in the next over, off his 127th ball.
Bangladesh then added 90 runs in the last seven overs, with Shakib reaching his 33rd ODI half-century off his 61st ball. Having only scored one boundary till then, he went on to hit three more, adding a six to score 22 runs off his next nine balls before being caught off Suranga Lakmal at short fine leg for a 71-ball 72, ending a 144-run fourth-wicket partnership.
Tamim scored 27 runs off 15 deliveries after reaching his century, hitting two fours and a six, which was parried over the midwicket rope by Gunathilaka off Kumara. Off the very next ball, in the 48th over, Tamim was out for a 142-ball 127 trying to clear long on. He hit 15 fours and a six.
From 289 for five, Mosaddek Hossain (24 off nine) and Mahmudullah Riyad (13 off seven) managed to take the score to 324 for five.
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