Bangladesh Defeat Sri Lanka By 33 Runs, SL Poor Form Continues

Mushfiqur Rahim was the top scorer for Bangladesh with 84 runs in 87 balls. He was supported well by Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah's half-centuries.

Image: AFP

Dhaka: Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka in the first ODI in a 3-match series by 33 runs. Earlier in the day, Tamim Iqbal had won the toss and chose to bat for Bangladesh. The Bangladesh batsmen looked pretty comfortable as they scored a modest total of 257 in their quota of 50 overs. But eventually, the Lankan batsmen couldn't change their fortunes as they fell 3 runs short while chasing the total.

Mushfiqur Rahim was the top scorer for Bangladesh with 84 runs in 87 balls. He was supported well by Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah's half-centuries. Sri Lanka couldn't chase the total and fell like a pack of cards. The only silver lining for Sri Lanka was Wanindu Hasaranga's innings of 74 runs in 6-0 balls.

Mehdy Hasan was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh who picked up 4 wickets. Mustafizur Rahman also picked up 3 wickets. The next ODI will be played on 25 and 28 May 2021. 

Lets see what the captains say after the match: 

Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh): Happy with the way we fought. Mahmudullah and Mushy played brilliantly. Young Afif batted really well. Got to a decent total. Wasn't easy to bat. Pitch was two-paced. Losing is no fun. Finally, we won. I think we lost 10 games across all formats. Winning is happiness. Boys are really happy.

Kusal Perera (Sri Lanka): Losing isn't good, but we had a lot of positives. The bowlers bowled in the right directions, batting-wise Wanindu (Hasaranga) did a good job. They (Bangladesh) have a lot of seniors with plenty of experience, our bowlers weren't so, but restricting them to 257 was a good effort. On our batting, we need to start taking more responsibility. He (Hasaranga) is highly rated as a batsman in these conditions, after bowling 10 overs it was a good knock.