Charith Asalanka’s unbeaten 92-ball 62 and Maheesh Theekshana’s 2-19 steered Sri Lanka to a five-wicket win against Bangladesh in the second match of the Asia Cup at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Charith Asalanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama scored fifties for the winning side to get them over the line.
While chasing the 165-run target, Sri Lanka had slipped to 43-3 but Asalanka and Samarawickrama added 78 runs in 119 balls to ensure that the Islanders stayed on track to victory.
Other batters, including Pathum Nissanka (14), Dimuth Karunaratne (1), Kusal Mendis (5), and Dhananjaya de Silva (2), failed to show any significant resistance with the bat.
For Bangladesh, Captain Shakib showed his experience and bowled superbly, bagging two wickets and conceding merely 29 runs.
Taskin Ahmed (1-34), Shoriful Islam (1-23), and Mahedi Hasan (1-35) took a scalp each.
Mustafizur Rahman (0-12) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (0-26) remained wicketless.
Bangladesh had set a target of 165 runs after winning the toss and deciding to bat first in the second match of the Asia Cup 2023.
The team was dismissed for 164 in 42.4 overs as Najmul Hossain Shanto top-scored with 89 runs in 122 balls.
Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals and only four batters could get into double figures.
