When Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in July this year and won the T 20 Series by 2 games to 1, little did they take into account that Sri Lanka were minus their three top bowlers namely, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera and Nuwan Thushara.
Yesterday, the favourite Tigers were given a test of quality seam and spin attack after being put into bat at Abu Dhabi.
Sri Lanka made a surprise selection by benching Mahees Theekshana and giving the nod to Matheesha Pathirana, who frankly looked very ordinary bowling wides after wides , which now seems his go to delivery. True, Sri Lanka won comprehensively, but to include Pathirana in the playing eleven at the expense of Theekshana looked a comedy to state the least.
Bangladesh, if not for the unbroken partnership of 86 runs for the 6th wicket between Jaker Ali and Shamim Hossain, would not have even scored 100 runs because they were reduced to 53 for 5 wickets in 10 overs, due to an extraordinary bowling spell by Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera and Nuwan Thushara.
Jaker Ali was lucky he was bowled by Hasaranga before he even opened scoring, but the bails did not fall off the groove. Maybe due to extra lacker on the wickets. Nevertheless, he took advantage of the lottery and helped Bangladesh reach a respectable total of 139 for 5 wickets after being unbeaten on 41 with excellent middle order support from Shamin Hossain who is a class act , he made an unbeaten 42.
Sri Lankan bowling was excellent except Matheesha Pathirana, who leaked 42 runs in his 4 over spell. Hasaranga 2 for 25 , Chameera 1 for 17, and Nuwan Thushara also 1 for 17 were far beyond compare. Dasun Shanaka, as expected, was expensive. Being the 5th bowling option, he conceeded 27 runs in his 3 overs.
Sri Lanka chased down the target of 140 in 14.5 overs. Pathum Nissanka made his 16th T 20 half century with a strike rate of 147 , which is excellent. Man of the match Kamil Mishra made an unbeaten 47 in 34 deliveries with 2 sixes and 3 boundaries.
Kusal Mendis is having a bad patch with his bat , out for a duck , whilst Kusal Janith Perera seems to overdo the reverse sweep , far too often and was out for 13. Batting at number 4, he can take a cue from Pathum Nissanka to play orthodox cricket and cut off those fancy shots because he is a better player with a straight bat.
Sri Lanka plays Hong Kong tomorrow, they need to be ruthless.