Bangladesh succumb to successive defeats in the Super Fours and nearing the elimination. On the other hand, Sri Lanka now have the second longest winning streak in ODIs with 13 consecutive victories. For now, It is me AkshayaKrishna Polya signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Arijit Kundu and helping buddy Ajay Ahire, who, alongside our scorer/analyst Zeeshan Naiyer brought you all the live-action of this crucial Super Fours fixture. It's Pakistan vs India tomorrow! Hope for the same forecast! We will meet again. Until then, it's cheers!
Sadeera Samarawickrama (Player of the Match): "It was not easy to bat on when I went there to bat. I had to play my normal game. I think, in this wicket, my plan was to play as late as I can. I was waiting for the ball to come to me. Just the basic things for me. I was trying to bat deep and double the total. My plan was to get 250. I told my partners that we need to take the score deep and then try and hit. I knew that the wicket was going to play well for the spinners later."
Player of the Match: Sadeera Samarawickrama
Dasun Shanaka (Sri Lanka Captain):"Bangladesh bowlers bowled really well, especially Hasan Mahmud. So I thought that if I hit the seam as he does, so there will be something for me. So I stuck to the basics and I delivered. Yeah, see, so that when there are no frontline bowlers, someone needs to chip in, and happily today was my day. Yeah, of course. See, it's a matter of time. I have played good enough cricket to deliver, but it can happen to any player. Our players, especially Kusal Mendis and Sadeera read the wicket really well, and they played accordingly."
Dasun Shanaka collects the winner's check.
Maximum Sixes of the Match: Sadeera Samarawickrama (2sixes)
Smart Catch of the Match: Kasun Rajitha
11:17 PM IST & Local Time: Time for a post-match presentation...
Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh Captain): "Well, I thought it was a good toss to win. At the start, we didn't really bowl well despite having some help for the bowlers. Sri Lanka batted well in that phase. Sadeera batted superbly and took the game away from us.
There was some help for the bowlers, it did seam and swing, spin as well. Our top four didn't get much and that was why we are in this position. A 80-100 partnership in between could have helped us which didn't come.
He (Hridoy) played LPL and had a brilliant tournament, he had runs and also had read the conditions. Had he batted for a littlelonger, things could have been different. Of course, there are plenty of ifs and buts. Sri Lanka were brilliant tonight and that is why we won. Seamers were expensive but at the same time they also picked wickets. So nothing to complain much."
Maheesh Theekshana: "I went with my basics. I came back for a three overs spell with some other plans and we came back in the game with a couple of wickets in the end. It was getting difficult to grip the ball but if you are playing for a country you have to do it in any condition & situation. So we went with some great plans and were happy to execute those."