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Monday, 29 July 2019 01:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Madushka Balasuriya
A professional all-round performance built on a grandstand 82 by Avishka Fernando, and bookended by an unbeaten 52 from Angelo Mathews, saw Sri Lanka through to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the second ODI in Colombo last night, and with it an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
The win marks Sri Lanka’s first home series win in nearly four years, while it also brings Bangladesh’s losing streak at the R. Premadasa Stadium to 10 games. The result will be a particularly hard one to take for Bangladesh, who will feel they have let a rare opportunity for an away series win pass them by. 
Once again it was ill-discipline with the bat, ball, and in the field that stunted Bangladesh’s chance with only Mushfiqur Rahim coming away with any credit to his name. His unbeaten 98 meant that he was the only consistent performer over the two games, and ensured the Bangladesh bowlers would have some semblance of a total to defend on a difficult Khettarama pitch. However once Fernando began to unveil is full array of shots, that fast became an increasingly remote possibility.
In an innings that included nine boundaries and two sixes, the 21-year-old right-hander proved that no area was off limits; cover, mid-on, square leg, point, Fernando checked off each corner of the ground on his way to a 75-ball 82, an innings made all the more impressive by how much harder the rest of the batsmen had to work for their runs.
“The wicket wasn’t easy,” Angelo Mathews stated matter-of-factly after the game. And indeed, despite him having secured his 50 off the final hit of the match, it was an innings that was slow in the build-up. Gradually, Sri Lanka’s now eldest statesman showed glimpses of his best, accumulating seven boundaries in a 57-ball 52, including some trademark lusty blows over the infield.
The same went for Kusal Mendis, whose workmanlike 41 not out off 74 deliveries in a 96-run fourth wicket partnership, littered sporadically with classy drives and flicks, meant there would be no late jitters for Sri Lanka in their chase.
Earlier, Mushfiqur’s unbeaten knock had revived Bangladesh after they had slumped to 117 for 6, following some tight Sri Lankan bowling led by a reinvigorated Akila Dananjaya, who ended up with figures of 2 for 39 – his best since returning to international with a remodelled action – while Isuru Udana and Nuwan Pradeep also picked up two wickets apiece.
Akila returns
On a pitch that was showing a fair bit of turn and bounce, none of the visiting batsmen were able to get the measure of Dananjaya, who for large parts of his first spell stuck to the basics, rarely breaking out his variations. Instead, having worked a lot in recent months on improving his control, he trusted the pitch and his natural flight and dip to constantly keep the batsman in two minds as to whether they should venture forward or stay back.
This tactic was rewarded almost immediately, when in his first over, Mohammed Mithun misjudged a dipping, spinning delivery, tossed up outside off; playing it off the front foot, Mithun failed to get to the pitch of it, and offered a simple catch to midwicket.
A couple of overs later Dananjaya had his second; Mahmadullah, rocking back to cut away a flatter one outside off, found himself cramped by the extra spin and bounce extracted off the turf, as the ball clipped the top of off stump.
He wouldn’t pick up any further scalps, but gradually unleashed his repertoire of leg spinners and googlies, to keep the Bangladeshi batsmen in check. At the other end the pace trio of Nuwan Pradeep, Isuru Udana, and Lahiru Kumara, were doing their part to ensure that Lasith Malinga’s absence, at least for this game, would not be so keenly felt.
As early as the third ball of the match Pradeep pulled out his best Malinga impression, letting rip an in-swinging yorker at Tamim Iqbal’s toes, leaving the batsman sprawled on the floor, much like the Slinga had done in the first game. But unlike last time out, here Tamim managed to just about get the toe-end of his bat to the ball, which Sri Lanka soon discovered after unsuccessfully reviewing for LBW.
That wouldn’t deter Pradeep, however. While his yorkers aren’t as accurate, nor as consistent, as Malinga’s, they’re definitely quicker. And that was what did in Soumya Sarkar in the end; the attempted yorker had turned into a low full-toss, but at Pradeep’s pace it meant that all Sarkar had to do was slightly misjudge his attempted leg side flick to be rapped full on the pads right in front of the stumps.
Udana then joined in, as Tamim chopped on to his stumps a length ball outside off that had fractionally held up on a sluggish Premadasa track. Akila would soon after join in with his double breakthrough to leave Bangladesh reeling on 68 for 4 after 19 overs.
While Kumara and Dhananjaya De Silva were the only Sri Lankan bowlers not to pick up any wickets, they were nevertheless among the most economical, keeping things tight on what was proving to be a challenging batting surface.
Mushfiqur’s fightback
For Bangladesh, Mushfiqur was proving to be the only constant; consecutive partnerships of 20 and 29, with Sabbir Rahman and Mossadek Hossain, briefly threatened to consolidate the innings, but both fell in fleeting moments of madness.
Sabbir was caught stranded in the middle of the pitch after a poorly judged run. Sent back by his partner, despite a desperate dive, he was run out an inch or so short of the crease. Mossadek meanwhile hadn’t looked too troubled during his stay but an inability to deal with a tame Udana bouncer saw him graze a top-edge to the keeper.
With Mushfiqur running out of partners, one finally stuck; Mehidy Hasan, who has long been touted as genuine allrounder in the mould of Shakib Al Hasan, finally began to look the part, as he took the attack to Sri Lanka’s bowling attack in a 49-ball 43, which included six boundaries. Mushfiqur meanwhile, happy to defer the heavy hitting to his younger compatriot, moved the Lankan bowlers around with ease. The pair put on 84 for the seventh wicket taking Bangladesh past the 200-mark, before Pradeep returned to deceive Hasan with an off-cutter, that the batsman could only splice to mid-off.
With just the tail to play with, Mushfiqur finally took on the attacking burden, as Bangladesh scored 40 runs in the final five overs – one Udana over proving particularly expensive, as Mushfiqur took him for two boundaries and a six off consecutive deliveries. This took Bangladesh to a respectable 238, but on a ground where scores below 250 had only been defended twice in the last decade, it was never going to be enough.
