Bangladesh v Sri Lanka

Situations in Group B had become thrilling after the defeat of India by Bangladesh. Match 16 Sri Lanka v/s Bangladesh was a deciding match for both the teams. Result of the match was going to decide their chances to enter the Super 8. On a sunny morning at Queen’s Park Oval, Habibul Bashar won the toss for Bangladesh and put in Sri Lanka to bat.

Sanath Jayasuria strikes
Sri Lankan opening pair Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya gave a blistering start to the Lankan innings. Sanath Jayasuriya batting in his style blew off the Bangladeshi attack, hitting the bowlers all over the ground. Sanath Jayasuriya made the most of the power play with steady support of Upul Tharanga. With Jayasuriya in his best form, the Bangladeshi fielders were left with no other job but to get the ball from boundary. Sanath and Tharanga in a quick session had put 98 runs at the end of 14 overs. The first damage done by the Bangladeshi to the Lankan innings was the wicket of Upul Tharanga at the score of 98. A Ahmed caught him on the bowling of Mohammad Rafique at personal score of 26. He had faced 37 balls from the 86 ball bowled.

Sri Lankan batting flourish
Next to come was the Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene. Struggling for his form the captain had a great opportunity to do some scoring. Taking complete advantage of the opportunity, Mahela played a steady innings of 46 runsfrom 70 balls. He hit 2 sixes and 2 fours. A Ahmed caught Mahela at 202 on the bowling of S Hasan. Kumar Sangakkara came in next. He scored awe-inspiring 56 in 55 balls hitting 3 fours and 1 six. Chamara Silva followed Sangakkara. Jayasuriya with help of his massive 7 sixes and 7 fours made 109 in 87 balls. H Bashar caught Jayasuriya at the bowling of A Razzak. Chamara Silva was not out at 52 in 48 balls, and Russel Arnold not out at 5. The Sri Lankan batting ceased at 318 for 4 in 50 overs.

Bangla tigers tamed by the Sri Lankan hunters
Bangladesh batting order could not withstand the Sri Lankan attack they lost wickets in quick succession. The Bangladeshi batting order fell down as a pack of cards. Shahriar Nafees was out LBW for a duck on bowling of C Vaas in the very first over of the inning. For the 17 year Tamim Iqbal bowling of Malinga was too heavy to handle. Tamim was caught behind the wickets at 6 by K Sangakkara on bowling of Lasith Malinga. Bangladesh was 2 for 7 when Aftab Ahmed came to the crease with Mushfiqur Rahim. However, the Bangladeshi down fall still continued. Aftab Ahmed was soon sent to the pavilion at his personal score of 12. And Bangladesh was in a soup with 3 top order batsmen in the dressing room and with just 20 runs on the board.

Bangladesh gone with the wind
Bangladesh was 4 for 26 in 11.1 overs when Dilshan caught Mushfiqur Rahim at bowling of Maharoof. The next batsman Saqibul Hasan was soon sent back, clean bowled by Murlitharan. A small partnership was built between Habibul Bashar and Mohammed and Ashraful. But the effort did not last long as Habibul Bashar was run out at 18 and Bangladesh was reduced to 6 for 66.At the very end of 28th over, it started raining when Bangladesh had had lost 6 wkts. The rain caused the inning to loose 4 overs resulting in a resource percentage loss of 2.3% for Bangladesh. Thus the target on the resumption of the match became 311 from 46 overs under the DUCKWORTH/LEWIS Method. Mohammed Ashraful was the only to withstand the Sri Lankan attack. He was not out at 45. The tail was wrapped in a quick time. Malinga had the best bowling figures with 3 wickets. Bangladeshi innings ceased at 112 in 37 overs. Sanath Jayasuriya was awarded the man of the match.