Sri Lanka gave Bangladesh a cricketing lesson to ease to a six-wicket win on Saturday in the third and final one-day international and complete a 3-0 series sweep in Dhaka.
Kusal Perera organised Sri Lanka’s run-chase with his maiden century, a brilliant 106 off 124 balls which was crucial in the absence of Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan.
The Tigers must have fancied their chances, despite putting on 240-8 on board, as Sri Lanka rested perennial nemesis Sangakkara while a hand injury ruled out Dilshan from the contest.
With Mahela Jayawardene already at home, Sri Lanka missed the trio for the first time in a game since 2000.
Off-spinner Mahmudullah grabbed two early wickets to leave them struggling at 60-2, raising a chance of building some pressure on their young line-up devoid of experience.
But Perera ensured that no pressure would creep in, mixing aggression with caution to always keep Sri Lanka on track.
He found an ally in Dinesh Chandimal, who had a point to prove to himself.
Chandimal saw his position in the side being called into question after the first two matches that had yielded him just 22 runs.
There could not have been a better chance for him to shrug off the poor form as Sri Lanka already had the series in their pocket.
Chandimal hit 64 off 70 balls and shared 138 runs with Perera for the third wicket in the process, which killed any outside chance Bangladesh had of posting a consolation victory.
Unlike the previous two matches, Bangladesh did not miss too many catches and part of the reason is Sri Lanka did not give them too many chances.
Nasir Hossain missed one but it was difficult by any standards. Nasir dived to the front and had a touch to the ball but could not balance himself properly.
The drop, which gave Lahiru Thirimanne a life on 13, did not cost the Tigers too much either as the batsman departed for 18.
Bangladesh let themselves down this time too with the bat, missing out an opportunity of putting on a total close to 275, which would have surely given them a chance.
Sri Lanka also fielded an experienced bowling group, resting Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis, who were easily the two most important bowlers of the current squad.
But Bangladesh failed to cash in on it, with Anamul Haque paying too much respect to Suranga Lakmal at the start of their innings.
Bangladesh’s main problem, however, was not their sluggish start, rather their inability to build a partnership and play a big innings.
Barring Anamul, who faced 16 balls to make just two, all the other batsmen got starts only to see them throw it away.
Mominul Haque perhaps could be spared of the blame, having scored a run-a-ball 60, his maiden one-day fifty, which had every indications of getting big.
His run out from a direct throw of Kithuruwan Vithanage put Bangladesh under some pressure although a couple of other batsmen were still to come.
Mushfiqur Rahim followed Mominul soon after, offering a catch to point fielder Sachithra Senanayake after making 30.
The stage was set for Naeem Islam to prove the selectors wrong and just when it looked like he was going to be successful, Naeem made a mistake and paid the price.
Coming into the side as a replacement for the suspended Sakib al Hasan, Naeem scored some quick runs before he shelved in, which slowed the run rate for a while.
Naeem realised it late and chose the final ball of the batting powerplay to go for a six, but he was caught by Dhammika Prasad at the boundary for 32.
Mahmudullah completed his miserable series having been dismissed for five, which took his series tally to six runs.
When it was expected from Nasir Hossain that he would try and stay till the end, he too followed Mahmudullah in the same over after making 34.
Bangladesh’s score could reach the 240-run mark only after Sohag Gazi managed some late blows to score 23 off 13 balls.
Brief scores
Third ODI
Bangladesh 240-8 in 50 overs (Mominul 60, Nasir 38, Naeem 32, Mushfiq 30; Prasad 3-49, Lakmal 2-24) v Sri Lanka 246-4 in 47.3 overs (K Perera 106, D Chandimal 64; Rubel 2-69).
Result: Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets.
Man of the match: K Perera (SL)
Man of the series: S Senanayake (SL)
Series: Sri Lanka won the 3-match series 3-0
-With New Age input
