Asia Cup 2018: Three things you might have missed in Sri Lanka's innings against Bangladesh

Bangladesh got their Asia Cup 2018 campaign off to a great start as they beat Sri Lanka by 137 runs in the tournament opener at the Dubai international stadium in UAE. With this win, they have one foot in the Super Four while Sri Lanka have made things tough for themselves with this huge defeat.

Wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim was the star of the show as he scored 144 and with Mohammad Mithun's 63, he helped Bangladesh reach 262 in their innings after they were reduced to 1/2 after the first over having also lost their star opener Tamim Iqbal due to an injury by the end of the second over.

Mushfiqur's fighting knock overshadowed Lasith Malinga's inspiring performance with the ball in his return to international cricket after one year. Rahim's 32-run partnership with Tamim Iqbal, who batted with just one hand, not only shifted the momentum in favour of Bangladesh with the target in excess of 260, but also put pressure on the Lankan batsmen on a crumbling pitch.

Chasing 263 runs to win, Sri Lanka started off on a positive note as Upul Tharanga scored 13 off the first over. Mustafizur Rahman dismissed Kusal Mendis off the second over and since then, it was just one-way traffic as Bangladesh's bowlers struck at regular intervals and reduced Sri Lanka to 69/7 in the 19th over.

It was just a formality thereafter in spite of Dilruwan Perera's late charge as the Lankans were wiped out for just 124, handing Bangladesh a 137-run win. Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman and Mashrafe took two wickets each while Shakib-al-Hasan, Eubel Hossain and Mosaddek Hossain scalping one apiece.

Let us take a look at three things you might have missed in the Sri Lankan innings.

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Bangladesh's horrible review

In the 19th over of the innings, Mehidy Hasan cramped Thisara Perera for room and after having contact with the batsman, the bowler started appealing. The umpire refused to raise his finger and Mehidy convinced Mashrafe Mortaza to take a review.

The replay suggested that the ball hit the middle of Perera's bat and the batsman survived. This is easily one of the candidates for the worst DRS review ever as there was a lot of gap between the batsman and the bat.

Bangladesh fielders doing a Shoaib Malik-Saeed Ajmal

Remember Shoaib Malik and Saeed Ajmal's dropped catch to give Chris Gayle a life in an ODI? The Bangladeshi fielders bettered it as Dasun Shanaka skied one off the bowling of Mehidy Hasan and the ball went towards the off side where skipper Mashrafe Mortaza and Nazmul Hossain were stationed at cover and point respectively.

The ball was coming down so straight that Shakib-al-Hasan, fielding at mid-wicket, started celebrating even before the ball was caught. But, neither Mortaza nor Nazmul went for the catch as they looked at each other and the ball landed right between them.

Mashrafe Mortaza piling on the pressure at the start

Mashrafe Mortaza set the tone for Bangladesh

Thanks to some aggressive batting from Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka were off to a great start in their innings. Tharanga was severe on Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza as he took as many as 19 runs off the first ten balls against him before losing his wicket off the last ball of Mashrafe's second over.

Since then, the veteran pacer kept things tight from one end as he dismissed Dhananjaya de Silva in his next over and conceded just one run off his next three overs. In his opening spell, he bowled six overs and conceded just 25 runs, which means just six off his last four overs, and took the important wickets of de Silva and Tharanga.

His dot balls to Angelo Mathews put pressure on the batsman in the other end and that helped Mehidy Hasan dismiss Kusal Perera. Mashrafe set the tone for Bangladesh with his tight bowling spell with the new ball.