There was a huge sigh of relief as Sri Lanka spared themselves the ignominy of losing a one-day international series to Bangladesh for the first time when they came back strongly in the third and final match to post a convincing 70-run win at the SSC grounds yesterday and thereby share the series one-all.
Even the weather gods were on Sri Lanka’s side as the fickle weather kept away to enable the match to go its full distance without any interruptions.
Sri Lanka invited to bat first posted a challenging score of 280-9 to which Bangladesh could reply with only 210 off 44.3 overs. Bangladesh won the first ODI played at Dambulla by 80 runs and the second also played at the same venue ended in a no-result due to rain.
Bangladesh failed to make use of the early life the SSC pitch offered when they opted to field first. Their opening bowlers skipper Masharafe Mortaza and Mustafizur Rahman conceded 45 runs in the first six overs inclusive of two wides.
Sri Lanka were off to a flier with their openers Danushka Gunathilaka and Upul Tharanga posting a handsome 76 off 65 balls against some wayward bowling before Bangladesh managed to pull back the run rate from a staggering 7.6 to 5.2 by the halfway mark.
Eventually Bangladesh were left to chase at 5.6 an over thanks largely to Man of the Match Thisara Perera’s late blitz scoring 52 off 40 balls (4 fours, 1 six) and his useful partnership of 45 off 27 balls with Dilruwan Perera (15) for the eighth wicket.
Off-spinner Mehedi Hasan who went for 16 runs in his first two overs came back well to get the first breakthrough for his team by having the aggressive Gunathilaka chipping a delivery to extra cover with his score on 34.
Bangladesh struck back quickly to remove Tharanga as well when Taskin cleaned him up with a beauty that beat him all ends up for 35.
Mendis and Chandimal took time to settle down and when they looked like having settled down bringing up a partnership of 49 Chandimal was run out rather unnecessarily gifting his wicket to Bangladesh.
Chandimal lacked the basics of having to ground his bat while running - taking it too lightly and found his bat in the air when Taskin made a direct hit from cover. He was ruled out by the third umpire after Bangladesh appealed. It was a wasted wicket for lack of common sense. If the new run out rule was in play today Chandimal would have escaped, but it comes into effect only from October 1. The new run out rule is that if a batsman who has grounded his bat behind the crease before the bails are broken cannot be given out even if the bat is later raised.
Following the start given by the openers Man of the Series Kusal Mendis who scored his maiden ODI hundred in the last game completed a skillful half-century with 39 of his 54 runs coming from leg side shots especially the sweep which he employed to good effect against the spinners. But Sri Lanka lost wickets regularly and were 230-7 in the 45th over when Thisara Perera played a lovely cameo innings to surge the total towards a really competitive one. Although these days a total in excess of 300 plus is generally regarded as the benchmark, at the SSC with the pitch offering something for the bowlers all the time Sri Lanka’s score proved more than sufficient.
The value of having an off-spinner in the side against a top order with left-handers was amply demonstrated by the presence of Dilruwan Perera who came back strongly after conceding 20 runs in his first over to bowl a maiden in his third and achieve the vital breakthrough for the team in his fourth by having Soumya Sarkar stumped for 38. That dismissal ended a threatening 77 runs stand with Shakib Al Hasan, another left-hander who also fell a victim to Perera for a well compiled 54 off 62 balls. It took an injury to Niroshan Dickwela for Sri Lanka to opt for an off- spinner whom they badly missed in the first ODI at Dambulla which they lost by 90 runs.
Bangladesh’s run chase was derailed in the first four overs by new ball bowlers Nuwan Kulasekara and Suranga Lakmal who reduced them to 11-3. Kulasekara got rid of the inform Tamim Iqbal for four holding onto a leading edge and also accounted for Sabbir Ahmed for a duck. Lakmal the most improved Sri Lankan bowler in the past few months struck the most vital blow when he had the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim lbw for a duck.
When Shakib fell Bangladesh had more or less out of the equation at 118-6 in the 24th over. It was only some spirited batting by young Mehedi who struck his maiden ODI fifty (51 off 71 balls) that delayed the inevitable.
Kulasekara came back for his second spell to finish the Bangladesh innings off getting rid of Mehedi and Taskin Ahmed (14) who had put together 54 for the ninth wicket for figures of 4 for 37.
Bangladesh’s batsmen got out to a series of poor shot selection coupled with wonderful work on the field by Sri Lanka where the bowlers received good support from the field. The ground field was excellent and the catching not far behind. Wicket-keeper Dinesh Chandimal achieved a milestone in his budding career completing 100 catches when he dismissed Mahmudullah. The win was a welcome one for Sri Lanka as it was their first in eight ODIs.
The two teams will now meet up for two T20 Internationals at the R Premadasa Stadium on April 4 and 6.
