Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka in their own den. The
Lions losing to India was somewhat
alright. I mean it is India. And the current team is one of the best teams in
the world. They also defeated South Africa in South Africa. But Sri Lanka
losing to Bangladesh in Sri Lanka will be extremely hard to digest. A lot of
people were surprised. Now I have the habit of rooting for the underdogs and I
had a feeling that Bangladesh had it in them. It was nice to be able to tell
others, “I told you that Bangladesh could win”.
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| Mushfiqur Rahim held back his celebrations until the winning runs were stroked |
What did happen? Sri Lanka came in to bat first and
hit a solid 214 runs in 20 overs. It was a very good score indeed. Perera’s 74
along with Kusal Mendis’s 57 took the runs to a competitive level. It seemed
like a sure-fire win for the lions. A very fair assumption to make too.
And then came in Bangladesh. From the word go, they
were on the track to victory. The first
wicket fell at 74. Second at 100. Third at 151. By the time the fifth wicket
fell, the contributions made by the Bangladesh batsmen (Tamim Iqbal - 47, Liton
Das - 43, M Rahim - 72) mattered significantly. Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka
by five wickets.
It was the fourth highest successful run chase in
the history of T20I cricket and the highest in Sri Lanka with the previous best
being Pakistan's 178 for two against Bangladesh during the World T20 in 2012 at
Pallekele.
Easy to make remarks and offer advice in hindsight.
Sri Lanka’s bowling was below par. That was the reason probably. M Rahim’s
35-ball 72 helped take the team to the finish line. The match-winning total was
chased down by the visitors, with two deliveries to spare. Making the
tournament wide open now. It was assumed to be an India - Sri Lanka finals. You
will have to think again, won’t you?
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