<\/p>\n
Sadeera Samarawickrama smashed 93 to set up a 21-run win for Sri Lanka in their opening Super Four clash of the Asia Cup against Bangladesh on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Samarawickrama\u2019s knock steered Sri Lanka to 257-9, a total their bowlers defended to put Bangladesh on the brink of elimination in the 50-over tournament, a precursor to the upcoming World Cup in India.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh were bowled out for 236 in 48.1 overs despite a valiant 82 by Towhid Hridoy and suffered their second loss in the Super Four stage.<\/p>\n
With one match to go, Bangladesh need a mathematical miracle for a place in the final on September 17.<\/p>\n
Dasun Shanaka, who turned 32 on Saturday, played a captain\u2019s role with his 24 and three wickets from his medium-pace bowling.<\/p>\n
Spinner Maheesh Theekshana and fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana also took three wickets each.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka, who co-host the tournament with Pakistan, faltered after being invited to bat first with Bangladesh\u2019s fast bowlers getting regular breakthroughs.<\/p>\n
However, Kusal Mendis (50) and then Samarawickrama made sure they reached a competitive and, eventually, a winning total on an inconsistent pitch.<\/p>\n
Samarawickrama reached his 50 in 45 balls and accelerated in a 60-run partnership with Shanaka to rouse the home fans at a largely empty ground.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka slipped after a brisk start before Pathum Nissanka and Mendis put on 74 runs with some sensible batting, forcing Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan to rotate his bowlers.<\/p>\n
Shoriful Islam was brought into the attack and he delivered with the wicket of Nissanka, trapped lbw for 40.<\/p>\n
Mendis reached his fifty with a boundary off Islam in the next over but the fast bowler had his revenge four balls later to have him caught out.<\/p>\n
The bowlers kept up the charge, but Samarawickrama turned the tide with a string of boundaries and finished off well as he surpassed his previous one-day international best of 82. He was dismissed on the final ball.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh started strongly with Mehidy Hasan Miraz hitting a few boundaries to take on the Sri Lankan attack alongside fellow opener Mohammed Naim.<\/p>\n
Shanaka hit back with his medium-pace bowling to send back Miraz for 28.
\nPathirana got the big wicket of Shakib, caught behind for three and with Liton Das\u2019 departure Bangladesh slipped to 83-4.<\/p>\n
Mushfiqur Rahim and Hridoy attempted to raise hopes of a fightback in a stand of 72 before Dunith Wellalage broke through with the wicket of Rahim, who made 29.<\/p>\n
The rest of the batting fell apart in trying to match the rising run-rate and Hridoy\u2019s lbw off Theekshana spelt the end.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sadeera Samarawickrama smashed 93 to set up a 21-run win for Sri Lanka in their opening Super Four clash of the Asia Cup against Bangladesh on Saturday. Samarawickrama\u2019s knock steered Sri Lanka to 257-9, a total their bowlers defended to put Bangladesh on the brink of elimination in the 50-over tournament, a precursor to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/09\/091904035fd73ce.jpg?r=195908","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t