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Who says Mondays are boring eh? We've just had a riveting one and we could be in for a tantalizing Tuesday as well at the World Cup. Australia and Afghanistan square off at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, with the former one win away from a spot in the semifinals and the latter wanting to keep their fate of progressing further in their own hands. Do join us for what should be another interesting contest right here on Sportskeeda while keeping yourselves updated with further cricketing news and action from around the world on this very platform. For the moment, this is the duo of Arya and Rajarshi taking your leave. Thank you so much for witnessing this masala movie with us. See you again tomorrow - good night and take care!
Alrighty! We've heard from both captains and clearly, both captains have contrasting takes on what transpired. Kusal Mendis reckons the umpires should have done better while Shakib Al Hasan has stuck with his decision with conviction. It's not the last we've heard of this and it's certainly not the last of this real spicy rivalry. This could possibly fuel a lot more drama in time to come between these two sides...
But as far as the bragging rights are concerned, Bangladesh have won them fair and square as the better team across departments. They have one more game remaining in their campaign - a mighty tough one at that against Australia in Pune and it's one they must win in order to keep their Champions Trophy hopes alive. As for Sri Lanka, they now head to Bengaluru with pride and a spot in the Champions Trophy to play for. They're out of the semifinal race but can spoil New Zealand's party on Thursday though - that surely ought to be an engrossing battle alright!
Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh captain): (On the win) When I won the toss I didn't have any hesitation in choosing to bowl first. We knew there would be a lot of dew in the second half. Having said that we had to bat really well. When you're not winning matches 270-280 can look very big. We had to bat deep. We were looking for a big partnership. Shanto and I applied ourselves really well. We would have loved to finish early and by losing lesser wickets but a win was important for us. We know that they have a lot of potential, they are the future of Bangladesh cricket. We should back them. (On the timed out dismissal) One of our fielders came to me and said if you appeal now he'll be out. Then I appealed and the umpire asked me if I'm clear and if I'm going to take it back or not. I said no, it's in the rules. It's in the laws. I don't know if it's right or wrong but I felt I was at war (grins). I had to take the decision to make my team win. If it's in the rules why not take those chances. I thought that helped. At 36, the fight doesn't come all the time but today it helped, I won't deny that (grins).
Kusal Mendis (Sri Lanka captain): I think, Charith played a brilliant innings but we were 30-40 runs short. 320 would have been a good enough total on this pitch. I am happy Pathum, Sadeera and Dilshan few good players coming through. We have shown some promise and in the future, we will have a strong team to show more promise. When we were coming in, couple of main players were injured that is why we had to make so many changes. We made few mistakes in all departments. We could have played much better in the tournament which could have helped us going through to the last four. It's very disappointing. When Angelo came into the crease, there was five seconds left. It was an equipment failure as he noticed the helmet strap had come off, the umpires should have intervened and logic should have prevailed. It is disappointing that umpires couldn't step in and make the right decision.
Shakib Al Hasan (Player of the Match): Yeah, they are two important players. There wasn't much for the bowlers. We really bowled upfront. Both the spinners bowled really well. Bowling is one thing which we felt wins us more matches. Fast bowlers were doing really well coming into the World Cup. We couldn't put in the performance but we knew we could fight back and today it paid off. The ground dimensions helped as well. I had to just use the pace of the ball after playing the first few balls and from there on, I didn't look back. I would say that we could have been consistent (on whether Bangladesh took very long to produce the performance they were looking for). That's the one disappointment I would say.
Match Summary: Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka by 3 wickets.
Wow. Now that was quite a script. Cinematic, theatrical and incredibly topsy-turvy. What you call a masala movie - it had a lot of spice as expected ahead of the game but none could have possibly envisioned a first ever timed out dismissal in international cricket to trigger it all.
As far as the cricket was concerned though, Bangladesh were professional for a good part of their chase. For a moment towards the end, it seemed as though they tried very hard to let Sri Lanka back into the contest but they managed to hold their nerve. The start was a sign of how they were going to approach it - Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das began with a bang even as Dilshan Madushanka removed them both quickly with his toe-crusher to pin Das in front standing out. It brought Najmul Hossain Shanto and Shakib Al Hasan to the middle and unsurprisingly, the latter was greeted with a mouthful from Angelo Mathews.
The counter-attack was on though. That was the template even as a lot of dew set in - perhaps the most we've seen throughout this tournament. The Sri Lankan bowlers looked to keep it tight but there were plenty of stoppages with the ball changed quite regularly owing to the dew sending it out of shape. Tempers flared in the middle too with Shanto and Sadeera Samarawickrama involved in a heated exchange and the umpires having to play peacemakers. But it didn't stop Shanto and Shakib from taking the charge, with the skipper also taking on the short ball quite comfortably.
It was a smooth sail for Bangladesh as a third wicket partnership of 169 all but buried the chase. But that's when there was a twist and - surprise, surprise - it was Mathews who was to orchestrate it as he dismissed Shakib before letting him know how he felt about it with a send-off. He soon got Shanto to play on as Maheesh Theekshana strung in a series of dots leading up to it. Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim then seemed like taking the Tigers home but with 31 runs still to go, wickets started falling regularly again even as Bangladesh remained in front.
Sri Lanka fought as hard as they could with all that dew to contend with. But their bowlers and fielders just didn't have enough to play with even as Bangladesh looked to seal it as soon as they possibly could to give their net run-rate a boost. And so they did, marginally pipping the Lankans on that front to register their second win of the tournament nearly a month after their first. It's been a long, long time coming for the Tigers hasn't it? As for Sri Lanka, that's their World Cup done and they have to beat New Zealand now to keep their Champions Trophy fate in their own hands. Lots will be said by the captains for obvious reasons - stick around as we wait to hear from them...
And that is that! Subdued celebrations from the two batters as they shake hands at the end of a successful chase. A despondent Maheesh Theekshana is on the floor though and looks bitterly disappointed. Sri Lanka's World Cup dream has officially come to a halt with this. But gosh, that was one topsy-turvy contest!
41.1 Angelo Mathews to Tanzim Sakib, FOUR! That's the game for Bangladesh as they win by 3 wickets. That was a back of a length delivery drifting down leg, Sakib just manages to get some tickle on that, plays it fine and it races away to the long leg fence.
Angelo Mathews [7.0-1-35-2] is back into the attack
Just the last bit remaining then in this match. Sri Lanka have fought hard but that Shanto-Shakib partnership was just too good for them in the end as it turns out. What a massive result this will be for Bangladesh in terms of keeping their Champions Trophy hopes alive!
41
overs
278/7score
1wd
W
0
4
0
4lb
1
runs
Tanzim Sakib*
5(5)
Towhid Hridoy
15(7)
Maheesh Theekshana
2/44
40.6 Maheesh Theekshana to Tanzim Sakib, pushes this good-length delivery around off towards the cover region for a single.
That's as desperate a review as it can get.
40.5 Maheesh Theekshana to Tanzim Sakib, FOUR leg byes! DRS call from Sri Lanka but that was no way hitting the stumps. It has been taken out of desperation as that was clearly sliding well down the leg side. Was a quicker one drifting down leg, Tanzim gets some pad on that and it races away to the fence. That was pitching in line and impact outside and Bangladesh just 3 runs away from victory.
40.4 Maheesh Theekshana to Tanzim Sakib, on a length around off, Tanzim gets down on one knee and goes for the slog sweep, gets it from the inside half of the bat straight to the midwicket fielder.
Is that the shot of a batter playing at number 9?
40.3 Maheesh Theekshana to Tanzim Sakib, FOUR! A wristy flick down the ground for a boundary. That was a fuller-length delivery around the middle stump, a whipped flick past the bowler, chipped it over the bowler and it skips across the deck and off to the fence.
40.2 Maheesh Theekshana to Tanzim Sakib, on a good-length around the off-stump, defended from the crease.
Video
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M Hasan Miraz
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Tanzim Sakib
*
Maheesh Theekshana
Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
