Bangladesh surprise Sri Lanka in a T20 World Cup cliffhanger

Bangladesh defeated arch-rivals Sri Lanka by two wickets in their T20 World Cup opener at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. The Group D game was a thriller on pitch that didn’t look anything like a T20 surface.

Leg-spinner Rishad Hossain came up with a career-best spell of 3/22 as Bangladesh restricted the men from Emerald Isles to 124/9 in 20 overs.  

Left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman too chipped in with a three-wicket haul, picking 3/17. Pacer Taskin Ahmed took 2/25.

Only Pathum Nissanka could hold his own as he scored 47 off 28 balls. Dhananjaya de Silva and Charith Asalanka scored 21 and 19 respectively.

In response, Bangladesh struggled. But middle-order batsman Towhid Hridoy (40 off 20 balls) and one-drop Liton Das (36 off 38) helped the Bangaldeshis to stay afloat and register a win that put them in third place in the group. They reached home with six balls to spare.

“Everybody's body language was great. We gave our 120%. Last 10-15 days, we have been making plans and all the fielders are doing their job,” said Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto.

Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga laid the blame on his batsmen for failing in the middle-overs.

“Our batters batted really well in the first 8-10 overs. After that in the middle overs I think we batted badly.”

Rishad Hossain won the Player of the Match award.

“The pitch was good, I tried my best,” he said after the match.  

T20 World Cup, Cricket, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Rishad Hossain