CHATTOGRAM, MARCH 14
Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto hit a century as Bangladesh recovered from 23-3 to beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in the opener of their three-match ODI series Wednesday.
He was unbeaten on 122, including 13 fours and two sixes, which steered Bangladesh to 257-4 in 44.4 overs after Sri Lanka was dismissed for 255 in 48.5 overs.
Shanto fittingly brought up the victory to give Bangladesh 1-0 lead, hitting offspinner Maheesh Theekshana for a boundary through extra over.
Mushfiqur Rahim was not out on 73 after sharing 165 runs for the undefeated fifth wicket stand with Shanto.
"The bowlers should be praised because initially it was a tough wicket to bowl on, but they came back strongly," Shanto said.
Pacer Dilshan Madushanka swung the ball admirably to trouble Bangladesh batters and removed two openers in his first two overs. He rattled the stump of opener Liton Das in the first ball of the innings and then had Soumya Sarkar (3) caught by Theekshana at mid-wicket.
His new ball partner Pramod Madushan pegged back Bangladesh after getting rid of Towhid Hridoy for 3.
Shanto and veteran Mahmudullah steadied the team with 69-run for the third wicket.
Pacer Lahiru Kumara further gave the side an edge when Mahmudullah top-edged a short delivery to Madushanka in square leg after hitting a run-a-ball-37.
But the joy was short lived as Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim patiently dealt with the bowlers to keep Bangladesh afloat.
After bringing up his fifty off 52 balls, Shanto took Sri Lankan bowlers in precision and raised his third century off 108 balls with a cracking cut for a four through cover region against Kumara.
Bangladesh's three-pronged pace attack shared nine wickets amongst them to help the side bundle Sri Lanka in a moderate total.
"Pathum (Nissanka) and Avishka (Fernando) batted really well in the first 10 overs but the middle order struggled a little bit after that," Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis said.
Dilshan Madushanka and Pramod Madushan, he added, "bowled really well in the first 10 overs, but when the ball got wetter with the dew it was harder to control the ball and that helped them with the batting."
Tanzim Hasan, who was used as third seamer, claimed 3-44 to give Sri Lanka the initial trouble before Shoriful Islam (3-51) and Taskin Ahmed (3-60) came to the party to rip through Sri Lanka.
Janith Liyanage made team-high 67 off 69 with three fours and two sixes while captain Kusal Mendis hit a 75-ball 59.
But after opting to bat first, Sri Lanka made a rapid start with Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando, sharing 71 runs in just 59 balls.
Tanzim broke through with the wicket of Fernando, who made run-a-ball-33.
Tanzim then dealt double blow, claiming the wicket of Nissanka who made 36 off 28 and Sadeera Samarawickrama in his consecutive two overs, to leave the visitors at 84-3 in 13.1 overs.
Offspinner Mehidy Hasan, who took 1-33 in 10 overs, slowed down Sri Lanka's innings as the run rate dipped below six.
He got the reward for his tight line and length when he got the better of Charith Asalanka for 18 with a delivery that spun sharply.
Mendis and Liyanage rebuilt the inning slowly but steadily. They combined for a 69-run for the fifth wicket and Sri Lanka appeared to set the platform well for a final flourish.
But disciplined bowling of Taskin and Shoriful in the death overs denied Sri Lanka setting a big target.
The second ODI is on Friday.
Sri Lanka won the recently concluded Twenty20 international series 2-1 to make a good start to the tour.
