Bangladesh were left ruing the poor fielding that helped Sri Lanka claw their way back into the contest and seal a 13-run win in the first one-day international in Dhaka on Monday.
The Tigers had a great opportunity to post their fifth one-day win over Sri Lanka and draw first blood in the three-match series when they reduced the Islanders to 67-8 before the home fielders made a mess of things.
Thisara Perera carried his luck from the Twenty20 series to one-dayers, scoring an unbeaten 80 off 54 balls that gave Sri Lanka a fighting total on a difficult pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Sohag Gazi, Nasir Hossain and Sakib al Hasan dropped Perera on 7, 30 and 78 respectively to let Bangladesh’s advantage go. Mahmudullah missed a catch from Sachithra Senanayake on 5, and the off-spinner grabbed his chance with both hands to put on 82 runs for the ninth wicket with Perera.
‘We dropped a few catches, and this was not expected at all as all four players are good fielders,’ lamented Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim in the post-match press conference.
‘[The missed catches] put us on the back foot. When a team is down eight wickets inside 80 runs, no matter how extraordinary they perform they are expected to be dismissed by 120 to 130 runs.’
Bangladesh still had a chance to win as Mominul Haque and Shamsur Rahman batted beautifully to put them in a comfortable position. Mominul fell for 44, having shared 79 runs with Shamsur for the second wicket after Lasith Malinga jolted the Tigers with the wicket of Anamul Haque in the first over.
Shamsur launched a counter-attack and completed his fifty off 43 balls before a freakish run out ended his second fifty in three ODIs at 62. Bangladesh soon lost the momentum as Sakib also suffered a run out for five runs.
Mushfiq added that the two run outs of Shamsur and Sakib derailed the chase even though they only had 181 runs to score in the rain-reduced 43-over-a-side game.
‘I think we were thrown out of the match after the two run outs,’ said Mushfiq.
‘In any conditions, 180 is never a tough target, though the wicket had some moisture and turn. We did well after the first wicket, but the match slipped from our grip after the two run outs.’
-With New Age input
