The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
So that will be all from this contest. Tomorrow's a rest day but if anything, it's the calm before the storm. Yup, brace yourselves for a blockbuster Saturday afternoon in Pallekele - it's India versus Pakistan! The mother of all battles and if last year's T20 duels between these two teams are anything to go by, expect another cracker to unfold over the weekend. Do join us for our detailed coverage of that epic battle right here on Sportskeeda while also keeping yourselves updated with further cricketing news and action from around the world on this very platform. For the moment, this is the duo of Arya Sekhar Chakraborty and Sooryanarayanan Sesha taking your leave. Thank you so much for tuning in as we hope you enjoyed our coverage. See you around soon - buh-bye and good night!
A lad of few words but a massive impact. Matheesha Pathirana has laid down a marker of some kind today for Sri Lanka and has orchestrated a superb victory in the company of his colleagues. A fine show by the Sri Lankans and they've now put a lot of pressure on Bangladesh, who have to win their next match against Afghanistan to qualify for the Super Fours. The Lankans themselves will travel to Lahore now to play Afghanistan and will head there with plenty of confidence under their belt on the back of their superb showing today.
Matheesha Pathirana is the Player of the Match for his outstanding spell of 4/32. Here's what he has to say: This is my first Man of the Match title for my country so really happy about that. (How much do T20 skills help in ODIs?) It's really needed for the death overs. Today I was used a lot at the death so that's why I took wickets with my slower ball. I think it's a very useful skill in 50-over cricket. My action I think is pretty unpredictable so I think it's a big advantage for me.
Dasun Shanaka (Sri Lanka captain): We thought it's a better pitch than that (164) but the way the bowlers executed, credit to them. Especially Maheesh Theekshana, Dhananjaya de Silva and Matheesha Pathirana - he's been outstanding. (Idea behind using Theekshana in the powerplay?) The wickets were used in the LPL and we knew what kind of wicket it was. So as a team we had a discussion and went for him. It was a tricky surface. The way Sadeera fielded I thought today was his day. And he took his chance. Charith Asalanka has been outstanding for the last two years. Good signs for Sri Lankan cricket.
Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh captain): I thought it wasn't a 300 wicket 220-230 would have given a lot more chance to bowl our 50 overs. Yes I think I got more responsibility. Tamim and Litton is not there. We have to regroup ourselves. We have to learn from this and move forward and perform well in the next important game. I mean, when they were 3 down we knew a couple more wickets could get us going. They kept on attacking, we picked up wickets but we didn't had enough runs on the board. There were lot of nerves when the game started. In the 20th over the dressing room felt very happy. Lot of guys are playing Asia Cup for the first time and they will take a lot of positives from here. They have to perform in crunch situations. They are very good players and that's why they are in the team.
Sadeera Samarawickrama: Yeah it was not easy at that time. We we two wickets down. My approach was to bat positively but still build partnerships. I wanted to do the basics right. It wasn't easy to bat on. Spinning and a bit slow. I backed myself and played positive. I have always backed my strengths. Normally cover drive and pull shots I work hard for that. Any situation, I back my shot.
Match Summary: Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 5 wickets.
Charith Asalanka 62* (92) | Matheesha Pathirana 4/32 (7.4) Najmul Hossain Shanto 89 (122) | Shakib Al Hasan 2/29 (10)
It was a chase that was bound to be tricky as targets of such kind on a tacky pitch often are. Sri Lanka were made to slog hard and fight it out but that's the spirit that is imbibed within their cricketing ecosystem. And fight they did to come out on the right side of the result and begin their Asia Cup 2023 campaign in style on the back of their bowlers, led by Matheesha Pathirana, setting it up beautifully with a clinical display.
Pathum Nissanka was timing the ball sweetly but he couldn't kick on and make it count. A loose slash outside the off stump saw him depart after Dimuth Karunaratne had his furniture rattled by Taskin Ahmed. The Bangladeshis had their tails up and were determined to make a solid first of this with Taskin running in at full throttle and posing questions aplenty. While Kusal Mendis looked all at sea, Sadeera Samarawickrama cashed in on the half-volleys and did very well to rotate strike and keep the scoreboard ticking along.
Mendis perished soon to keep the game in the balance but with the hosts after a solid partnership, Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka combined forces to wrest control in their favor. A 78-run stand for the fourth-wicket followed as they went about milking the spinners for singles and doubles with Samarawickrama showing nimble footwork to bat at a brisk pace relative to the asking rate. Asalanka played the perfect foil and with Shakib Al Hasan rotating his bowlers around a wee bit too much, Bangladesh were clutching at straws and staring down the barrel.
Despite the pitch remaining tacky and assisting some turn, the duo showed incredible application to notch up their respective half-centuries. Samarawickrama did walk past a Mahedi Hasan delivery before Dhananjaya de Silva was also castled, leaving the door ajar for Bangladesh with just a slight crevice. But skipper Dasun Shanaka hung around with Asalanka to ensure that there were no further hiccups before the latter unleashed some authoritative shots to wrap things up with plenty of time to spare for his side. Stick around for the presentation...
And that's how you finish it off! A superb help off the hips and Asalanka has the final say in this contest. What a fabulous performance by the co-hosts and they kickstart their Asia Cup campaign in brilliant fashion.
39
overs
165/5score
1
1
0
0
1
4
runs
Charith Asalanka*
62(92)
Dasun Shanaka
14(21)
Taskin Ahmed
1/34
38.6 Taskin Ahmed to Charith Asalanka, FOUR! That's game set and match for Sri Lanka. Short of a length delivery that sat up nicely and Asalanka nails the pull, in the gap and the dep square leg fielder had no chance. Sri Lanka huffed and puffed their way to the target but in the end the scorecard would suggest that it was a comfortable victory.
Around the wicket.
38.5 Taskin Ahmed to Dasun Shanaka, slower length delivery on the pads, nudged away towards the square leg region for a single,
38.4 Taskin Ahmed to Dasun Shanaka, back of a length delivery outside off, Shanaka was thinking about going after that but leaves it in the end.
Bangladesh have no choice but to go for the review. And it goes marginally against them with Paul Wilson's call vindicated again. Huge cheers from the Sri Lankan faithful.
38.3 Taskin Ahmed to Dasun Shanaka, that was a slower delivery on a good-length around off, Shanaka tries to work this away towards the on side. Gets struck on the pads, given not out on field and Shakib has taken the review. More out of hope, it struck Shanaka on the thigh pads as he got inside the line of the ball and tried to work it away towards the on side. Ball tracking suggests that it would have been just clipping the stumps, Shanaka survives.
38.2 Taskin Ahmed to Charith Asalanka, short of a length delivery from Taskin, Asalanka controls the pull, keeps it down towards the deep square leg fielder and rotates the strike.
Six runs to get. Will Asalanka go for the glory shot?
38.1 Taskin Ahmed to Dasun Shanaka, back of a length delivery a shade outside off, turned away towards the square leg region and rotates the strike.
Taskin Ahmed [6.0-1-27-1] is back into the attack
Sri Lanka require 7 runs to win off 72 deliveries at 0.58 RPO.
Video
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S Al Hasan
D de Silva
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Charith Asalanka
*
Taskin Ahmed
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy
