Hero Cup ODI Series . Bangladesh Vs Sri Lanka
3rd Match Played at SCC Colombo

Score Card Sri Lanka 280/9 (BKG Mendis 54, NLTC Pererra 52, WU Tharanga35, MD Gunathilaka 34, DAS Gunaratne 34, Mashrafee 3/65, Mustafiz 2/ 55) beat Bangladesh 210 All Out (Shakib Al Hasan 54, Mehedi Hasan 51, KMDN Kulasekara 4/31, RAS Lakmal 2/38 and MDK Pererra 2/47) by 70 runs.

Man of The Match:NLTC Pererra,Man of The Series: BKG Mendis
Bangladesh always dream, some dreams are achieved but most remain dream not achieved The brilliant tiger squad created another such dream for an ODI series win but it remained a dream.
Bangladesh lost a very rare opportunity of winning a bilateral ODI series outside the country against Sri Lanka failing to win the third and series defining match at Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground yesterday. The far better team on the day Sri Lanka won the virtually one sided match by 70 runs squaring the series 1-1. Bangladesh won the first match at Dambula by an impressive margin of 90 runs. The second match was washed out at Dambula after Sri Lanka set a huge target of 312 for Bangladesh. In the very crucial encounter Masrafee surprised many opting to field after winning the toss. A very determined home side started impressively knocking Bangladesh bowlers off the rhyme with aggressive intent early on. Bangladesh regrouped and managed restricting the home side to a chase able target of 281. But Sri Lanka pegged the tourist back with aggressive intent removing Tamim. Shabbir and Musfique within the first four overs. Bangladesh could not recover though Shakib and debutant in the series Mehedi Hasan scored impressive half centuries. Sri Lanka went on winning by 70 runs. Bangladesh lost the opportunity.

It is always difficult to digest defeat. But if one views purely on the perspective of a cricket analyst one would have no hesitation in accepting that the far better team on the day deservedly won. There was no explanation why Mashrafee opted to bowl after winning the toss on a wicket which progressively grew slower and lower. Home side batted, bowled and even fielded much better and got their mission achieved. Bangladesh lost in the strategy. Moreover, Captain Mashrafee got a match ban for slow over rate.

I cannot help quoting two of the early bird of Bangladesh Cricket here. Jahangir Shah Badsha , celebrated all round cricketer and footballer of 1970s in a TV talk show with me mentioned that Bangladesh team appears over coached . I could not agree more. The team has head coach, batting coach and a physical trainer. All are Sri Lankan. They know Sri Lankan conditions much better than anyone. But in Sri Lanka of the five matches that Bangladesh played so far the team appeared second best in three and could not bat consistently well. Losing the first test and the last ODI evidence the outcome of over coaching. Bowling looks much improved for the influence of iconic Courtney Walsh. Time has come for reviewing over reliance on Sri Lankan coaching staff.

Yusuf Rahman Babu is another celebrity of early days of Bangladesh Cricket. He mentioned in his FB comment which when summarized says, “two teams appeared to come with same intent on the day. Sri Lanka wanted to win and level the series and Bangladesh let them do that”. On the day no one could see much positive intent of Bangladesh team to grab the opportunity for win excepting few smart run outs. The match was won and lost within the first 10 overs of either innings.

Right from the stroke of the toss that became evident. There was no point opting for fielding in a match of mind game. Batting first posting a target was the way to go. Sri Lanka started smartly pegging back Bangladesh with aggressive batting. Many of the host team contributed in ranking up competitive sore of 280 /9. First Upal Tharanga and Damushka Gunathilaka sprinted to 76 runs during the first power play bringing the memory back of Jayasuriya days. Kushal Mendis contributed with yet another impressive half century. Finally, Thisara Perrera punched the killer blows with a salvo at the end after Bangladesh bowlers and fielders taking control in the middle satge. Chasing 281 in a tension packed match was never going to be easy.

While defending all Sri Lankan bowlers bowled with hearts out. Nuwan Kulasekhera dealt early blows removing inform Tamim Iqbal and Shabbir Rahman with the last ball of the first and third overs of Bangladesh Innings.Lakmal joined the party in the fourth over trapping Mushfique plumb in front. Bangladesh was shell shocked at 11/3.Soumya and Shakib tried to salvage. But Sri Lankan fielders had springs on their field. They looked sharp and agile. The smartest decision of day was made by Lankan Captain Tharanga .He brought in off spinner MDK Pererra to break the dangerous looking Shakib –Soumya partnership. Pererra conceded 20 runs in his first over. Yet he persisted with him. That decision paid dividend. Pererra removed Soumya and also took the wicket of Shakib in turning the tide. Leg spinner S Parsanna also contributed taking the wickets of Mosaddeq and Mashrafee. All the while when everything seemed lost Mehedi Miraj impressed all playing a quality innings of 51 in his first appearance with the bat in ODI. Bangladesh lost the match to a far better team on the day by 70 runs. It was an opportunity lost for Bangladesh. We are not sure when Bangladesh will get such an opportunity again.

On a good surface Bangladesh with a long quality batting line up should have chased 281. But the early order batting collapse let them down.  No team can win a crunch match while chasing a sizeable target losing three inform top order batsman within the first four overs for almost nothing. We are not sure Shabbir is the right choice as number three in this batting line up though he scored runs there. Mahmudullah for his experience and Mosaddeq for his quality may be better. There must be plan B or C in match planning to suit circumstances. We are not sure how much free is the Bangladesh captain in setting batting order and in taking decision after the toss.
As the ODI series progressed it appeared that Sri Lankans did more homework’s on Bangladesh. Nuan Kulasekara was added after the series began finding Bangladesh batsmen tendency of playing away from the body/ He relied more on lines and length and intelligent bowling than his characteristic in swingers in making incursions. He dealt the early blows removing Tamim and Shabbir and returned later and mopped up the late order dismissing Mehedi and Taskin.

Bangladesh could wretch some control on the Sri Lankan middle order bowling tight and fielding well. But Thisara and Dilruwan Pererra blasting 45 off 27 deliveries took the home side to a zone which ultimately appeared well beyond the tourist reach.

Bangladesh has drawn the test series, could win the ODI series but drew it. Now they will play two matches T20 series. Let us see how competitive Bangladesh can be. On the same day another Sri Lankan team won against Bangladesh team in Bangladesh in the ICC emerging cup. So it was home and away win by Sri Lankans on the same day against Bangladesh.

BDST: 1348 HRS, APR 02
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