||Desk Report||

The Asia Cup 2018 started with the toss ahead of its opening game between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Winning the toss Bangladesh chose to bat first on the batting-friendly track of the Dubai International Stadium. However, the Tigers stumbled in the very beginning as Lasith Malinga started firing on all cylinders to mark his comeback. The pacer collected a brace in the last two deliveries of the first over, dismissing Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan for a duck.

Tamim Iqbal, too, retired hurt in the second over, adding to the miseries of the Mashrafe-led men. He has now been ruled out of the tournament due to the injury.

Following Tamim’s departure, Mushfiqur Rahim took a cautious approach, while Mohammad Mithun got favored by luck in the beginning of his innings. Together they restored the innings with a crucial 131-run partnership. Each of them also picked up a half-century, ut Bangladesh again suffered a mini-collapse as soon as Malinga returned to the attack.

Mithun led the procession back to the pavilion as Malinga dismissed him on 63. The same bowler also dismissed Mosaddek Hossain before Amila Aponso bagged Mahmudullah Riyad's wicket in the middle.

Bangladesh could not recover from that collapse but Mushfiqur Rahim kept fighting for the Tigers while also getting a century under his belt.

The moment of the match was perhaps when Mustafizur Rahman, the eleventh batsman, got out. It was the ‘ruled-out’ Tamim who came out to bat with his gloves cut in order to fit his taped hand. Bangladesh was on 229/9 when the left-hander defended Suranga Lakmal’s last delivery of the over to bring Mushfiqur on the striking end. The former Bangladesh captain didn’t let Tamim’s act of bravery go in vain and clubbed 32 more runs (16 balls) before getting out off the penultimate delivery. Thisara Perera stopped Mushfiqur on 144, but the Tigers already had 261 runs on the board by then.

In reply, Sri Lanka were off to a flying start as Upul Tharanga went all guns blazing against the Bangladesh bowlers. However, his blitzkrieg did not last long as Mashrafe Moratza removed him after Mustafiz dismissed Kusal Mendis for a duck. The Bangladesh skipper struck once again in his next over to send Dhananjaya back to the hut.

 

Score

Ban – 261 all-out (49.5 Overs)

Sl - 32/3 (4.3 Overs)