Thushara hat-tricks Bangladesh to lead SL to series win

Sylhet (Agencies): Nuwan Thushara’s five-wicket burst, including a hat-trick, after Kusal Mendis struck a 55-ball 86 handed Sri Lanka a 2-1 series win against Bangladesh in Sylhet on Saturday.

Thushara blew away the Bangladesh top order with a hat-trick in his first over – the fourth of the innings. He became the sixth Sri Lankan to achieve the feat.

Rishad Hossain and Taskin Ahmed, also Bangladesh’s best bowlers on the day, provided some respite with the bat, but Sri Lanka had done enough damage in that initial phase to get to a comfortable win. Rishad struck seven sixes in his 30-ball 53, the most by a Bangladesh batter and the second most by a batter batting at No. 8 or lower in the batting order.

But the day belonged to Thushara. Thushara rips through Bangladesh Thushara, who only entered the XI because Matheesha Pathirana was ruled out with a hamstring injury, started bowling in the fourth over and immediately got the ball to swing – he got one to shape into the left-handed Najmul Hossain Shanto and rearranged his stumps. Towhid Hridoy was up next, and Thushara got another one to swing similarly, this time the movement away from the right-hander.

The ball ended up at the deep-third boundary, but only after uprooting the off stump. As a Sri Lankan fielder retrieved the ball, the rest became involved in an altercation with Hridoy, who had to be held back by umpire Tanvir Ahmed. The chaos gave way to the sublime when Thushara handed out that same treatment to Mahmudullah, trapping him lbw.

The ball once again dipped and then swung in front of the batter. For those who witnessed the three balls, there’s bound to be debate about which was the best of the three.