SL vs BAN Match Highlights, Asia Cup 2023: Sri Lanka have handed a 6-wicket defeat to Bangladesh in their first match of Asia Cup 2023 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Thursday (August 31). While Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first, they were bowled out for a modest 164. Najmul Hossain Shanto top-scored for the Bangla Tigers with a gritty 89 off 122 deliveries. However, none of the other Bangladesh batters had answers to the questions posed by the Sri Lankan bowlers.
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For Sri Lanka it was Matheesha Pathirana who was the wrecker-in-chief, ending up with figures of 4 for 32. Maheesh Theekshana also picked 2 for 19 while Dhananjaya de Silva, Dunith Wellalage and Dasun Shanaka picked up a wicket each. In response, Sri Lanka did lose wickets upfront but Sadeera Samarawickrama's 54 off 77 deliveries and Charith Asalanka's unbeaten 62 off 92 helped them register a win by 5 wickets in this Group A fixture. For Bangladesh, captain Shakib Al Hasan scalped 2 wickets for 29 runs while Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan also chipped in with a wicket each.
This was the second match in Asia Cup 2023 with Pakistan beating Nepal in Multan in their tournament opener on August 30 (Wednesday). The next Asia Cup fixture is the much-awaited encounter between India and Pakistan at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday (September 2). This will be a Group B encounter and India's first match in this tournament where they play all their matches in the island country.
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Ahead of the IND vs PAK match, head coach Rahul Dravid has confirmed that KL Rahul will not play any part in this fixture as he has been ruled out of the team's first two matches in this event. With him being ruled out, it remains to be seen what will be the composition of the Playing XI that India decide to go ahead against Pakistan. Afghanistan is the other team featuring in Asia Cup 2023 and have been clubbed with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Group A.