Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have become archrivals in cricket after Bangla boys timed out Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews. Hence, their recent clash at the T20 World Cup 2024 had an emotional significance for both the teams. But the pitches in USA did not lend to a balance between bat and ball. Hence, in a nail-biting low scoring match, Bangladesh triumphed against Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field first. SL lost Kusal Mendis(10), Kamindu Mendis(4) early. Pathum Nissanka kept them going with an aggressive 47 runs from 28 balls. But once he got out, SL lost their way. Except for Angelo Mathews(16) no one could really continue any momentum or score. So, Sri Lanka managed only 124/9 in their 20 overs.
Rishad Hossain(3/22), Mustafizur Rahman(3/17), Taskin Ahmed(2/25) and Tanzim Hasan Sakib(1/24) took all the wickets. In the chase , Bangladesh lost openers Soumya Sarkar(0) and Tanzid Hasan(3) early. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto(7) also failed. Litton Das struggled for his 36 runs from 38 balls but tried to keep the innings together.
Towhid Hridoy gave required momentum to the innings by scoring 40 runs from just 20 balls. When once again SL bowlers looked like taking it away, veteran Mahmudullah formed the strike to score 16 runs from 13 balls to safely give Bangladesh a famous win. Nuwan Thushara(4/18) did well for SL but Bangla struggled to even score 125/8 in 19 overs leaving fans concerned about pitches.
