Sri Lanka back on track at the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals

Sri Lanka met Bangladesh in a game that would heavily weigh in on whether the hosts would make it to the semi-finals of the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals. Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field.

Having successfully chased and won against England, Sri Lanka’s batsmen confidently took guard against the Bangladeshi opening duo of Morsalin Murtaza and Arman Badsha. Sri Lankan openers Nisitha Wijewantha and Geeth Sankapala started cautiously; milking the ones and twos but not finding the boundary as often. Sankapala was dismissed by Mortaza for five, ending an opening stand of 17. In at number three, Gagith Abeysekara, hit five boundaries to elevate the run-rate, before being caught and bowled by Asif Sazzad.

Skipper Sahan Perera together with Randika Perera, helped Sri Lanka accelerate with well-placed boundaries and nifty running. Randika was the more aggressive of the two Pereras, hitting two sixes in his undefeated knock of 37. Sri Lanka completed their 20 overs with a score of 146/6. Mortaza was the most successful bowler for the Bangladeshis taking 2/19.

Jessey Ahmad and Mahmudur Rahman began the chase positively, looking to score off every ball. Ahmad was dismissed with the score on 30 in the fourth over and his replacement, Abid Hossain was out for a duck in the next. Izal Khan kept the run-rate in check with a six and two boundaries, before losing his wicket to Sahan Perera.

None of the batsmen after Khan were able to stay on and Bangladesh finally folded for 131. Sri Lankan skipper Sahan Perera was once again the best of the Lankan bowlers with figures of 2/16, earning him the ‘Man of the Match’ award.

It was an exciting match that kept the players and audience alike on their toes but Sri Lanka’s total was just a few runs too many for Bangladesh.