Pathirana, Asalanka lead Sri Lanka to vital opening win

Pallekele (Agencies): Fifties from Charith Asalanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama saw home a nervy chase in sluggish conditions, as Sri Lanka kicked off their Asia Cup campaign with an ultimately convincing five-wicket win over Bangladesh.

The result means Sri Lanka have one foot in the Super 4 stage, while Bangladesh face a must-win tie against Afghanistan. Asalanka, who had come into this game in a lean stretch of form, ended unbeaten on 62 off 92 deliveries, just the kind of gritty knock that was needed on a two-paced Pallekele surface and against a Bangladesh bowling outfit that gave little away. Set a target of just 165, Sri Lanka were in a spot of bother at 43 for 3 when Asalanka joined Samarawickrama in the middle.

Before that Dimuth Karanuratne had played all over a full in-ducker from Taskin Ahmed, while Kusal Mendis had been castled a Shakib Al Hasan arm ball. In between Pathum Nissanka had slashed and nicked a short, wide one from Shoriful Islam. Early wickets are crucial when defending a low total, and Bangladesh certainly felt they were in the game at that point, but in Samarawickrama, Sri Lanka had precisely the man they wanted in such a situation.

Batting at No. 4, Samarawickrama took it upon himself to keep the scoreboard ticking. Back-to-back boundaries against Taskin, including a sumptuous cover drive, showed his intent, but the loss of wickets forced him to play more of an accumulator’s role.

Once Asalanka joined him, the pair was initially content to nudge around for singles and play out dot balls when necessary, with the scoreboard pressure non-existent. Still, if there was any pressure building up, Samarawickrama released it with a couple of fours off Shakib in the 19th over. The two grafted together 78 before Samarawickrama fell, stumped off Mahedi Hasan, though by this point the chase was well in hand. Dhananjaya de Silva had his stumps disturbed by Shakib a short while after to keep give rise to a few more Sri Lankan nerves, but Dasun Shanaka joined Asalanka at the crease to see home the chase.

It was a result where Bangladesh would wonder what could have been, especially seeing as they had failed to bat out the full 50 overs. Only Najmul Hossain Shanto with his valiant 89 showed any resistance against Sri Lanka’s bowlers, who had the rest of the Bangladesh line-up in a stranglehold and bowled them out for 164. Matheesha Pathirana capped his Asia Cup debut with career-best figures of 4 for 32, while the always-excellent Maheesh Theekshana picked up a couple. But it was the pair of Dhananjaya and Dunith Wellalage that provided the platform for Sri Lanka’s strike bowlers to thrive, as the right-arm- and left-arm-spin combo rifled through the middle overs, never allowing the batters to score freely, and most importantly allowing skipper Shanaka to hold back on the reintroduction of both Theekshana and Pathirana.

This was crucial, as in the absence of the injured Wanindu Hasaranga, Sri Lanka were one strike bowler short. But on this difficult surface, Sri Lanka’s bowlers stuck to good lines and lengths and never really allowed the Bangladesh batters to get on top for any significant length of time. After Theekshana and Dhananjaya had removed openers Tanzid Hasan and Mohammed Naim cheaply, Shakib gloved Pathirana behind in the 11th over to leave Bangladesh reeling at 36 for 3.