Bangladesh won the toss and opt to bowl
64/2 in the first 8 overs. 39/3 off the next 7 overs. 21/4 off the last 4 overs. After winning the toss, this is what Bangladesh would have ideally wanted. To restrict Sri Lanka to anything less than 140. It’s been a thoroughly professional show from all the bowlers. The 21 year-old leg spinner Hossain stole the show with the wickets of Hasaranga, de Silva and Asalanka. His double-wicket blow in the 15th over ensured Bangladesh had a firm grip on the proceedings and never allowed Sri Lanka to run away with boundaries in the slog overs. Mathews and Shanaka tried their best, but got defeated by excellent display of skills and control of the Bangladesh pacers. Just 2 wides and no no-balls. Superb stuff!
Taskin Ahmed: It is a pretty good start. The game is not done and we will celebrate after winning the game. We didn’t start well but came back strongly. The whole bowling unit did a great job and we are very happy to restrict them to 124. There is a little bit of help for the bowlers, we made use of that and executed our plans. We bowled well but now we need to finish it with the bat. Proper cricketing shots will help as there will be some help for the bowlers. Hopefully we can chase this easily.
Bangladesh clinch this thriller and their fans are absolutely elated in the stands. Mahmudullah was calm under pressure, but for him this could have been a different story. Credit to Sri Lanka for fighting all the way, but they have now lost two games and made life difficult for progression. This was not a 124 pitch for sure. Not a great deal of turn, something in it for pacers but Sri Lanka weren’t good enough with the bat and they finished around 20 runs short of a par total. Thushara did get them off to a good start with the ball though. 28/3 inside the powerplay and looked tough for Bangladesh but Litton batted sensibly and Hridoy came out with great intent to put them well ahead. In fact the latter took Hasaranga on for a hat-trick of sixes before the bowler had the last laugh. Hasaranga got Litton too soon after and Thushara picked up two in two to put pressure back but Bangladesh managed to hold their nerve and get over the line.
The 63-run stand between Litton Das and Towhid Hridoy was the highest for Bangladesh for 4th wicket or below in a T20 WC game, bettering 51* for the sixth wicket between Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah against Australia in Bengaluru in 2016.
Bangladesh’s run-chase
Overs 1-7: 37/3 (RR: 5.29)
Overs 8-12: 55/1 (RR: 11
Overs 13-18: 22/4 (RR: 3.67)
19th over: 11 runs
Most T20I wickets for Sri Lanka
108 – Wanindu Hasaranga
107 – Lasith Malinga
66 – Nuwan Kulasekara
66 – Ajantha Mendis
55 – Dushmantha Chameera
Narrowest wins in T20 World Cups (by wickets)
2 wickets – NZ vs SL, Guyana, 2010
2 wickets – PAK vs SA, Colombo RPS, 2012
2 wickets – Hong Kong vs BAN, Chattogram, 2014
2 wickets – Oman vs IRE, Dharamsala, 2016
2 wickets – ENG vs SA, Mumbai WS, 2016
2 wickets – BAN vs SL, Dallas, 2024
Four of the above six wins have come while chasing sub-140 targets.
Nuwan Thushara bowling in T20Is
vs Bangladesh: 9/38 in 8 overs (2 matches)
vs Other teams: 7/215 in 23.1 overs (8 matches)
Most T20I wins for Bangladesh against an opponent
17 vs Zimbabwe (25 matches)
6 vs Sri Lanka (17 matches)
5 vs Ireland (8 matches)
5 vs Afghanistan (11 matches)
5 vs West Indies (16 matches)
Najmul Hossain Shanto | Bangladesh captain: Happy with the way everyone played. Run chase wasn’t easy but we didn’t bat well to be honest. Pitch was pretty good. Litton showed his skill today. Hridoy the way he played that over it helped us. Happy for the crowd and I hope they will come again and support us.
Wanindu Hasaranga | Sri Lanka captain: We started really well in the first 10 overs but in the middle overs we batted badly. Bowling is our strength. If we had got 150-160 we could have won with our bowling attack. The batters let us down in both games. We still have two games and we will try to do our best. Maheesh and myself are the two main spinners and we have to attack.
Rishad Hossain | Player of the Match: I tried my best and stuck to my strengths. I was trying to keep it normal for the hat-trick delivery and was keen on executing a good ball.