Unplayable Thushara bash Bangladesh despite Rishad's late blitz
|| CF DESK ||
Nuwan Thushara picked up a fifer as Bangladesh faced a 28-run defeat against Sri Lanka in the third T20I at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Bangladesh suffered a batting collapse in a chase of 175 runs when newcomer Nuwan Thushara claimed a hattrick becoming the fifth Sri Lankan bowler to achieve the feat in T20 format.
Bangladesh lost the opener Litton Das (7) early in the chase when he top-edged Dhananjaya de Silva to gift a catch to Dasun Shanaka. Nuwan, then rattled down the top order taking out Najmul Hossain Shanto (1) at first, in his successive deliveries he uprooted the off-stumps of Towhid Hridoy (0) and trapped Mahmudullah Riyad to LBW.
Followed that Soumya Sarkar departed on 11 runs when facing the unplayable Nuwan and Jaker Ali (4) fell to Wanindu Hasaranga in a space of a couple of overs.
Bangladesh were reeling on 32-6, when Rishad Hossain came to the crease and added a 46-run stand with Mahedi Hasan and another significant collaboration of 41 runs with Taskin Ahmed, helping the team surpass the hundred-run mark.
Rishad played a record breaking innings of hitting maximum number of sixes in an innings by a Bangladeshi batter, he struck seven sixes to go past Jaker Ali and scored the highest 53 off 30 deliveries.
Taskin Ahmed also played rapid knock of 31 off 21 featuring three fours and two sixes to help Bangladesh reach 146.
After inviting Sri Lanka to bat first, Bangladesh bowlers executed the skippers' decision accordingly as they kept the batters under pressure and scalped the wicket of Dhanajaya de Silva (8) in the first powerplay.
Sri Lanka tried to rebuild following the initial setback until leg-spinner Rishad Hossain gave the breakthrough dismissing Kamindu Mendis who top-edged attempting a shot toward the straight.
Sri Lanka posted 82-2 after 10 overs after Kamindu fell for 12 runs while Hasaranga (15) managed to play a brief innings to add a 59-run partnership with Kusal Mendis for the third wicket. Shoriful then scalped the prized wicket of Charith Asalaka (3) with a catch to Mustafizur.
Kusal, who was racing towards his century, fell on 86 runs when he attempted to pull a delivery, unfortunately, he was caught out after top-edging the ball to mid-wicket off Taskin claiming his second.
Kusal struck six boundaries and an equal number of sixes to play the knock. Following his departure, Sri Lanka lost the momentum and eventually set a target of 175 with Shanaka's brisk 19 runs.
