Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh 2017: 1st T20I, 5 Talking Points
Kusal Perera's half-century and Seekuge Prasanna's all-round show helped Sri Lanka overhaul Bangladesh's 155 with seven balls to spare. The wicket-keeper was at his belligerent best after returning from injury and smashed a brilliant 77 off a mere 53 balls.
Earlier, Bangladesh’s batsmen failed to convert their starts into big scores as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Prasanna and Gunaratne frustrated the batsmen with tight lines and smart variations, making run-scoring very difficult. Mossadek Hossain and Mahmudullah, though, took them to a respectable total.
Upul Tharanga and Kusal Perera walked in all guns blazing and slammed 65 in 6 overs before the former was dismissed by Mortaza, who had earlier announced that this series would be his final one in T20Is.
After Mustafizur and Mohammad Saifuddin contained the batsmen in the middle overs, the game seemed to be in the balance but Prasanna played a timely cameo to take the hosts home.
Brief Scores: Bangladesh 155/6 in 20 overs (Mossadek Hossain 34, Mahmudullah 31, Malinga 2/38) lost to Sri Lanka 158/4 in 18.5 overs (Perera 77, Mortaza 2/32)
Here are the talking points from the first T20 at Colombo.
#5 Lasith Malinga warms up for the IPL
Lasith Malinga is a key figure in Mumbai Indians’ bowling plans and he would have been hoping to be fit and firing by the time the IPL gets underway. The slingy fast bowler warmed up for the major tournament with a good four-over spell against Bangladesh today.
He had the dangerous Tamim Iqbal bowled off the second ball of the game with his trademark delivery – a crushing yorker that the Bangladesh opener had no clue about. The Lankan seamer had provided the hosts with a big breakthrough first up.
The premier fast bowler returned to knock down a set Mahmudullah in the penultimate over, with the pacy yorker once again coming into play. But the Lankan went for 38 in his four overs, something he would like to set right in the IPL.