Mashrafe rates victory over Sri Lanka as ‘one of Bangladesh’s best’

A clinical all-round performance has brought Bangladesh their biggest ODI win in terms of run, and skipper Mashrafe Bin Mosrtaza thinks the victory over Sri Lanka is ‘one of the best in recent times’.

Before Friday’s massive 163-run win, Bangladesh’s biggest win was one of 160 runs against West Indies five years ago.

The Tigers are through to the final of the tri-nation series after winning the first two matches with bonus points.

The win over the other team in this tournament, Zimbabwe, was also big – by eight wickets.

But when former World Cup winners Sri Lanka are the opponents with former Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha as their coach, a victory margin as huge as by 163 runs means the Tigers have something bigger to celebrate and it was clear in Mashrafe’s words.

“If you look back at the recent past, you must say it is one of our best victories. The boys played very well and we will have to keep it up,” he said after the match.

The ODI skipper, however, thinks Bangladesh still have a lot more to do.

“We have many things to learn from every match no matter we win or lose. Tamim could score a century. Batting was good, but no one could score a century,” he said, noting that opener Tamim Iqbal was out at 84.    

He also thinks Bangladesh should not forget the poor performance, especially in bowling, in the South Africa series by the end of last year. “We struggled with our bowling in South Africa,” he said. 

“We’ve done very well (against Sri Lanka), but there are more to do,” Mashrafe added.