||Desk Report||

The Asia Cup 2018 started with the clash between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates on September 15.

Winning the toss, Bangladesh chose to bat first at the Dubai International Stadium. Tamim Iqbal retired hurt after Lasith Malinga marked his comeback with a brace, as he dismissed Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan in the very first over.

Mushfiqur Rahim then took a cautious approach, while Mohammad Mithun got favored by luck in the beginning of his innings. However, they restored the innings with a crucial 131-run partnership. Each of two batsmen also picked up a half-century, but 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 and topped the wicket-taking chart for Sri Lanka with four scalps.

Mushfiqur Rahim kept fighting for the Tigers while also getting a century under his belt. He played a decisive innings of 144 run for his side before getting out in the penultimate delivery of Bangladesh’s innings. Their eleventh batsman, Mustafizur Rahman, got out and Tamim came out to bat. Mushfiqur shared a 32-run stand with the left-hander, where the left-handed batsman didn’t contribute any runs but displayed his resilience by batting with one hand only to defend the last ball of the 47^th over.

In reply, Sri Lanka opener Upul Tharanga started aggressively. However, he could only add 27 runs to the total, before Mashrafe Morataza dismissed him. Dilruwan Perera was the only batsman to have gone past 20, while all the other batsmen also failed to make any impact on the chase.

Sri Lanka were all-out for 124 runs as their batsmen failed to for any decent partnership.

Bangladesh will play their next group game against Afghanistan, on September 20. Sri Lanka will face the same side on September 16.

 

Score

Ban – 261 all-out (49.5 Overs)