Magnificent Mushfiqur steers Bangladesh to historic T20 win against Sri Lanka

Mushfiqur Rahim has put up a magnificent show, smashing an unbeaten 72 off 35 balls, to steer Bangladesh in a record run chase of 215 to win against Sri Lanka in the third T20 match of the tri-nation NIDAHAS Trophy Tournament.

Mushfiqur took the winning run in the last over with two balls to spare in his brilliant innings with five boundaries and four sixes.

He has duly been adjudged the Player of the Match.

This is for the first time the Tigers have won a T20 by chasing over 200 runs.

The previous highest successful T20 chase for Bangladesh was 164 against West Indies in Johannesburg in 2007.

However, the previous highest T20 chase against Sri Lanka was 193 in Dhaka in February this year. Bangladesh lost the match.

At R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo on Saturday, the Tigers won the rain-delayed toss and elected to bowl first in their second T20 match in the series. Both teams played unchanged sides from their previous games.

Kusal Mendis’ 74 off 48 after Kusal Perera’s 57 off 30 followed by a late 32-run cameo of Upul Tharanga helped the hosts amass the massive total of 214 for six. 

Bangladesh opened their innings flying with a 74-run stand with Liton Das’ 43 off only 19 balls.

Pressure mounted on the Tigers when they lost the other opener Tamim Iqbal (47 off 30) halfway through the huge chase.

Soumya Sarker helped Mushfiqur ease the pressure with a steady 24 off 22.

After Soumya's dismissal, skipper Mahmudullah (20 off 11) was out when the team was 22 runs away from the victory.

Sabbir Rahman was run out without scoring any run, but an unfazed Mushfiqur finally took the Tigers to victory with Mehidy Hasan Miraz on the other end.

In Sri Lankan innings, Mustafizur Rahman struck first by taking the wicket of Danushka Gunathilaka (26 off 19) to break the opening stand of 56 runs and finally took three wickets in 4 overs in exchange for 48 runs.

Skipper Mahmudullah took two wickets in as many overs by giving 15 runs. Taskin Ahmed took one but gave 40 runs in 3 overs.

In the previous two matches of the tournament, the teams who won the tosses sent the rivals to bat first.

‘A much-needed victory’

Bangladesh were desperate for a win to break a T20 losing streak of five matches. They have won only one T20 in their last 14 games in the format.

A single win would quell worries, Tamim had said after the first practice session in Sri Lanka. But victory eluded the Tigers in their first match.

Skipper Mahmudullah had also repeated Tamim’s message following Bangladesh's defeat at the hands of India.

“We only need to do well in one match. We need momentum. We are waiting. If we get some momentum, you will see a renewed Bangladesh,” Mahmudullah had said.

Bangladesh:

Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah (captain), Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Islam.

Sri Lanka:

Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Dinesh Chandimal (captain & wk), Upul Tharanga, Dasun Shanaka, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Pradeep.