Lankans win by 6 wickets

Bangladesh 240/8 (50 ov)

Sri Lanka 246/4 (47.3 ov)

Sri Lankan players cheer as Mominul walking towards pavilion after his 60-run knock off 60 balls on third ODI against Bangladesh in Mirpur stadium of the capital today. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

Sri Lanka effortlessly defeated Bangladesh by six wickets in the third and last one day international match at the capital's Sher-e Bangla Stadium today bagging the Sahara Cup 2014.

The visitors went on the crease to chase 241 runs set by Bangladesh and reached at the target losing four wickets with 15 balls remaining.

Ace batsman MDKJ Perera's ton and a steady performance by LD Chandimal eased them to the easy win.

Rubel Hossain got two late wickets dismissing Chandimal on 64 runs off 70 balls and MDKJ Perera on 106 runs off 124 balls.

Mahmudullah struck for the second time, giving a delivery that bowled KDK Vithanage straight away.

Mahmudullah also sent back Thirimanne to the pavilion on his personal 18 runs off 31 balls when Shamsur Rahman bagged a catch from his balling.

A delivery of Mahmudullah dismisses KDK Vithanage striking straight through the middle stump on third ODI in Mirpur stadium of the capital today. Photo: TV grab

Earlier, losing 8 wickets and facing the firing bowling arsenal of the Lankans, the Tigers played a moderate innings bricked by the middle-orders with a run-rate of 4.80.

On the Tigers' innings, the 5th wicket partnership of Naeem Islam and Nasir Hossain made the highest runs of 54.

First down batsman Mominul Haque was the top scorer of the innings, making an outstanding knock of 60 runs off 60 deliveries.

Nasir, Naeem and skipper Mushfiqur Rahim added 38, 32 and 30 respectively.

Lower order Sohag Gazi put on the final resistance with his 23 runs add-on off only 13 deliveries, before his scoop paddle sweep attempt went wrong.

Coming back after a year on the ODI field, Lankan seamer Dhammika Prasad picked up 3 major wickets for 49 runs.

Another pacer Suranga Lakmal also picked up 2 wickets while being stingily economical.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to send the Tigers to bat first on the final day-night match.

State-own channel BTV and private satellite channel Maasranga Television is broadcasting the match live.

Winning the first two ODIs, Lankans have already confirmed the Sahara Cup 2014 in their bag.

Shakib Al Hasan was put out of the game due to a suspension and replaced by Naeem Islam while Mashrafe Mortaza was rested and replaced by Shafiul Islam.

Meanwhile, injured Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara were rested on the visitor's side.

This is the first match since the 1999 World Cup that Sri Lanka are playing without any one out of Dilshan, Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in the XI.

Angelo Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dhammika Prasad and Suranga Lakmal were brought in to replace Sangakkara, Dilshan, Ajantha Mendis and Lasith Malinga.

SQUAD:

BANGLADESH

Anamul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (C), Naeem Islam, Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Sohag Gazi, Arafat Sunny, Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain

SRI LANKA

MDKJ Perera, HDRL Thirimanne, LD Chandimal, SMA Priyanjan, KDK Vithanage, AD Mathews (C), NLTC Perera, AK Perera, SMSM Senanayake, KTGD Prasad and RAS Lakmal