Asia Cup 2023 SL vs BAN: Pathirana, Sadeera help Lanka scrape to victory

Playing their opening match of the tournament, both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh struggled on a slow Pallekele wicket. But Sri Lanka managed to scrape through to a win by five wickets

It was a slow wicket in Pallekele, Sri Lanka as the Asia Cup started in the second host country of the event, But the hosts managed to scrape through to a win by five wickets against Bangaldesh on Thursday, August 31, 2023. Sadeera Samarawickrama and Matheesha Pathirana were the two heroes for home team. While the former picked 4/32, the latter hit a match-winning fifty. Charith Asalanka (62) too contributed with a fifty that took Sri Lanka home. Chasing a modest target of 165 for victory, the hosts lost quick wickets early on with openers Pathum Nissanka (13) and Dimuth Karunaratne (1) departing at a team score of 15 runs. However, Samarawickrama dug in his heels and added 28  with Kusal Mendis and then 78 with Charith Asalanka, to take Sri Lanka near the victory line. 

WATCH Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka highlights in Match 2 of Asia Cup 2023

But drama unfolded with Sri Lanka needing 37 more runs to win. Bangladesh struck with back-to-back wickets, getting rid of Sadeera as well as experienced Dhananjaya de Silva. However, skipper Dasun Shanaka and Asalanka did not give in to the pressure built by Shakib Al Hasan and co and guided their team to a thrilling win. 

Earlier in the day, Shakib won the toss and put Bangla Tigers to bat first. His decision did not prove to be a good one as the debutant Bangladesh opener Tanzid Tamim departed for a duck and it opened a floodgates of wickets which only closed with the fall of the 10th one. 

Najmul Hossain Shanto was the lone warrior for the men in green and red as he hit 89 off 122 balls to take Bangladesh to 164. Apart from him, only Towhid Hridoy (20), Mohammad Naim (16) and Mushfiqur Rahim (13) entered the double figures. 

For Sri Lanka, Pathirana was the pick of the bowlers. Apart from him, Maheesh Theekshana picked two wickets while Dunith Wellalage, skipper Shanaka and de Silva had a wicket each to their name.