Bangladesh hit back in convincing fashion to level series 1-all

Sri Lanka players converse with the umpire after Soumya Sarkar’s controversial not out decision 

Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews scored 32* off 21 balls​

Bangladesh skipper Najmal Hossain Shanto took his team to victory with an unbeaten half-century

Series decider on Saturday

Bangladesh hit back in convincing fashion to set up a series decider on Saturday when they beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the second T20I played at Sylhet on Wednesday to draw level one-all in the three-match series.

Sri Lanka put into bat once again could not produce the same batting form that saw them top 200 in the first game. They ended up on a below-par score of 165-5 which was largely due to the damage done by the Bangladesh bowlers who kept things tight and now allowing Sri Lanka to run away with some accurate and effective bowling, particularly in the death. 

Sri Lanka lost Avishka Fernando early in the innings, but Kusal Mendis and Kamindu Mendis were involved in a crucial partnership of 66 for the second wicket. Both of them departed in quick succession as Bangladesh bowlers managed to pull things back to an extent. Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews and Dasun Shanaka chipped in with handy contributions, but Sri Lanka were still left short of at least 25-30 runs.

During Bangladesh’s run chase there was an argumentative incident when Soumya Sarkar’s caught behind was unexpectedly overturned by the third umpire, that saw play being held up for a while with Sri Lankan players holding a discussion with the umpire.

But there was no denying Bangladesh the win as skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy took their team home with 11 balls to spare with an unbroken partnership of 87.

While Player of the Match Najmul scored a fifty reaching it with the winning hit for six off 38 balls (4 fours, 2 sixes), each of Bangladesh’s top four batters contributed to the total.

In fact, Bangladesh made radical improvements in the two areas they were quite poor in the first game – the death over bowling and the top order batting which they executed to perfection.

However, the difference between the two teams lay in the number of extras – Sri Lanka’s 23 compared to Bangladesh’s 5.

Matheesha Pathirana who was Sri Lanka’s only successful bowler with two wickets pulled up in his final over clutching onto his left leg and left the field, probably with a hamstring niggle. Mathews completed his over. 

Sri Lanka’s acting captain Asalanka admitted that his team was 20-25 runs short and added that the run out of Kamindu Mendis played a huge part in the game.

“As batsmen, we have to make big runs especially in these conditions, because it’s hard for the bowlers to bowl in these conditions,” said Asalanka. “Credit goes to the Bangladesh batters especially Shanto, Hirdoy and Litton they batted well.”