An excellent display of power hitting by Litton Daas of 76 runs off 50 balls with 1 boundary and 5 maximums and a super support role by Shamim Hossain 48 runs in 27 deliveries with a strike rate of 170 plus, was an exhilarating exhibition of catch up cricket after Bangladesh had been on the back foot struggling on 78 runs for 4 wickets in the 12th over.
The turning point was Litton Das given a life by Kusal Mendis when he messed up an easy stumping opportunity off Jeffrey Vandersay batting on 26, and also a dropped catch by Theekshana when on 60.
Shamim Hossain and Litton Das stitched a partnership of 77 runs for the 5th wicket on a batter friendly pitch as the par score predicted was 165.
Sri Lanka put the visitors into bat and had great control up until the 12th over. However, Bangladesh showed their capabilities in the back end. They smashed 76 runs in the last 6 overs with the Sri Lankan bowlers were getting cartered to all parts of the park.
Towhid Hridoy made 31 off 25 deliveries, but the rest of the batters struggled.
Bangladesh ended their 20 over innings on 177 for 7 wickets.
Binura Fernando 3 for 31, Thushara 1 for 30 , Theekshana 1 for 30 as well.
Sadly, Vandersay went wicketless for 40, mainly due to missed stumping and a catching opportunity gone abeging.
Sri Lanka batting was appaling to state the least. They started their run chase with inform Kusal Mendis being run out for 8. It was confusing why he took the single. The huge crowd went home sombre faced from the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium to see SriLanka bowled out for their lowest total of 94 in Sri Lanka and giving Bangladesh their best win against them by such a huge margin of 83.
Sri Lanka can not depend on Kusal Mendis to deliver always. It is high time the rest of the batters put their hands up as they are not meant to be kindergarten amateurs.
On a batter friendly wicket, Sri Lankan batters struggled. Bangladesh fielding was exceptional. They richly deserve the win. SriLanka will now be under pressure to win the 3 match series as the decider will be played in Colombo on the 16th.
Pathum Nissanka looked off colour despite his 32 whilst Dasun Shanaka did not threaten the Bangladesh bowlers, he made 20 , the rest of the batters registered single digits.
Shoriful Islam 2 for 12
Mohamed Saifudeen 2 for 21, but the pick of the bowlers was leg spinner Rishard Hossain 3 for 18.