Asia Cup, SL vs Ban: Five things we learned from the game

In the opener of the Asia Cup 2018, Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat in the sweltering heat of Dubai. Soon they were reduced to 2-2, but they showed a lot of character as a batting unit and all the other batsmen played around Mushfiqur Rahim, who scored at a rapid pace even in the middle overs.

Malinga bowled fizzy yorkers and slow cutters throughout his wonderful spell of 10-2-23-4. Rahim’s career-best ODI score under tremendous pressure took the Tigers to an excellent total of 261.

Chasing 262, Sri Lanka showed no maturity and their inexperienced batting line-up kept losing wickets against some disciplined bowling by the Bangladesh pacers. Dilruwan Perera showed some fight but it was too late by then and Sri Lanka succumbed to a heavy defeat as they were bundled out for 124.

Here are the 5 things we learned from the match:

#1 Rahim’s calmness and composure under distress

Mushfiqur Rahim has been Bangladesh’s most reliable middle-order batsman for some time now but his record against SL was poor. But, this knock against the Lankans was not only his career-best knock but is also be one of the best hundreds by a Bangladesh batsman in recent years. Sri Lankan bowlers were very high on confidence when he came out to bat with both the openers dismissed cheaply.

But, he used all his experience and knew which bowlers to attack and whom he should be careful about. It was outstanding awareness of the situation from Rahim and it took Bangladesh to a fighting total of 261.

#2 Tamim Iqbal’s "never give up" attitude

Tamim Iqbal is the best batsman in the Bangladesh batting lineup and when he fractured his wrist and retired hurt just when Bangladesh was trying to claw their way back into the game, that got plenty of supporters worried and disappointed.

Soon, the news arrived that he was out of the Asia cup and hence everyone thought that he won’t come out to bat. But, once the ninth wicket fell, he mustered plenty of courage and decided to bat with a single hand. His desire to contribute even with a fractured hand gave Bangladesh an extra 32 runs and the upper hand going into the second innings.

#3 Malinga still a nightmare for batsmen

At 35 years of age, Malinga received a call back to the national side after a long injury layoff. It was a distress call from the side which was struggling due to inexperience and he was expected to lead from the front and guide the youngsters.

He did exactly that as he removed both Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan in the first over of the match. Shakib’s wicket was a trademark Malinga yorker and brought back many good old memories for the Lankan fans. He came back and picked up the wickets of Mithun and Mosaddek Hossain and finished with an outstanding bowling figures of 4 wickets with an economy of just 2.3.

#4 Sri Lanka's batting inexperience

Srilanka was set a target of 262 on a dry pitch. The target didn't need a lot of aggression or big hitting, all it was needed to achieve the target was to simply keep the scoreboard ticking but Sri Lanka just did the opposite of that.

Once Upul Tharanga got out, the Lankan batting collapsed badly. The top order showed lack of technique against the moving ball and the middle order simply threw away their wickets as the scoreboard pressure was too much to withstand.

Eventually, they didn't even manage to complete their quota of 50 overs as they were bundled out for just 124 as they lost by a massive 137 runs.

#5 Bangladesh’s collective bowling performance

It was a team effort by Bangladesh

Mortaza will be very pleased with the Bangladesh bowling unit as all of them played some sort of role in reducing the Sri Lankan batsmen to a meagre total. Mashrafe was outstanding with the new ball with his inswinger troubling the Sri Lankan batsmen.

Mustafizur bowled a perfect line and length throughout his spell and Rubel generated good pace and continued to trouble the batsmen. Mosaddek Hossain and Mehidy Hasan impressed with their bowling and Shakib, as usual, was perfect and rarely gave a loose ball away to ease the pressure of the batsmen.