Asia Cup 2023: BAN vs SL Review – Pathirana, Theekshana sink Bangladesh

In their opening match of the Asia Cup 2023, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were against each other. After winning the toss, Bangladesh opted to bat first on a slightly two-paced surface where it looked like shot playing was difficult for the batters.

Bangladesh had a poor start with the bat as the opening batter, Tanzid Hasan was dismissed for a duck in the very second over by Maheesha Theekshana. In the tenth over, Bangladesh found themselves struggling at 36 for 3. Then there was a partnership between Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy, but in the end, no other batter except Shanto could make any significant impact as he scored 89 runs and Bangladesh were all out for just 164 runs and couldn’t even play their full 50 overs.

For Sri Lanka, Matheesha Pathirana was the standout performer with the ball as he took four wickets. As Sri Lanka began their pursuit of the modest target of 165, they initially lost three early wickets. However, a significant partnership between Sadeera Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka guided them to victory. Both Samarawickrama and Asalanka played crucial innings, scoring 54 and 62 runs respectively. Ultimately, Sri Lanka won the game by five wickets, kickstarting their Asia Cup campaign on a positive note.

Top Performers of the Match

Best Batter

Najmul Hossain Shanto (89 of 122)

On a pitch that looked difficult for batters, only Shanto was the one from Bangladesh who could adjust the conditions and played a brilliant knock of 89 which eventually helped Bangladesh to post a respected total on the board. It was Shanto’s effort that allowed Bangladeshi bowlers to fight back in the game but eventually, they couldn’t as the score was too low for them to defend.

Best Bowler

Matheesha Pathirana (4/32, 7.4 overs)

Bangladeshi batters were totally unable to adapt to the conditions as spinners, Maheesha Theekshana and Dhanjaya de Silva were the ones who gave early setbacks to them but it was the pace and guile of Pathirana that caused them in the middle overs.

With his brilliant surprising bouncers and pinpoint yorkers, he wrapped up the Bangladeshi’s lower order in quick time and emerged as the best bowler of the match with four wickets to his name.

What next?

On September 3, Bangladesh will be playing their second game of the tournament against Afghanistan, while Sri Lanka will also face Afghanistan on September 5 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.