Sri Lanka crush Bangladesh to 91-run loss in fitting finale to Malinga after Perera century

Bangladesh have begun their first series after the World Cup in a disastrous fashion as they plunged to a humiliating 91-run defeat to hosts Sri Lanka in the first of the three ODIs.

The Tigers were 223 all out with 8.2 overs to spare in their chase of 315 to win in Tamim Iqbal’s ODI captaincy debut at Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday.

Sri Lanka bade their bowling superstar Lasith Malina a fitting farewell as the pacer took three wickets, including the openers within the first 10 overs.

Malinga, the 35-year old paceman with blond-tainted hair and the distinctive slingshot action, struck first in the fifth ball of the first over.

The unplayable yorker foxed Tamim, hitting the stumps after touching his toe.

He bowled other opener, Soumya Sarkar, with a third yorker in a row in the ninth over after Nuwan Pradeep had trapped Mohammad Mithun lbw in the previous over.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman then steadied the rocking boat with a century partnership, which also gave the Tigers some hope for revival after Mahmudullah was caught trying to play a quick delivery from Lahiru Kumara in the 12th over.    

But all hopes were almost lost when Dhananjaya de Silva sent Sabbir (60) back in the 29th over.

Mosaddek Hossain came to the crease to assist Mushfiqur but a terrible mix-up saw Mosaddek run out by wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis, who finally managed to throw the ball straight to the stumps after long seconds of grappling.

Before Mushfiqur (67) was out trying to hook Pradeep, De Silva claimed the wicket of Mehidy Hasan Miraz. 

Pradeep and Malinga shared the last two wickets between them as in his final over, Malinga dismissed tailender Mustafizur Rahman with a slower ball, ending his ODI career with  338 wickets from 226 matches, the third highest for the island nation behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas.

While the pace has undoubtedly dropped over the years, the former captain was still Sri Lanka's most successful bowler at the recent World Cup in England with 13 wickets from seven outings to finish third in the list of most successful bowlers in the history of the World Cup with 56 wickets.

He has also taken three ODI hat-tricks and is the only player to have achieved the milestone twice during a World Cup.

After choosing to bat first, a magnificent century by Kusal Perera lifted Sri Lanka’s total to a competitive 314 for 8

Perera made 111 off 99 in a century partnership with Mendis (43) and another of 97 with Dimuth Karunaratne (36).

But the hosts failed to make the most of the strong base as the Bangladesh bowlers kept the batsmen in check in the death overs.

Sri Lanka, however, remained on top of the contest thanks to Angelo Mathews’ 48 off 52.

Sent in to field first after losing the toss, Bangladesh bowlers could not make inroads despite recalled pacer Shafiul Islam taking opener Avishka Fernando out in the third over as captain Karunaratne continued with Perera.

Shafiul also took the wickets of Thisara Perera De Silva by the end of the innings, but conceded 62 runs in 9 overs.

Mustafizur secured two wickets but bled 75 runs in 10 overs.

Rubel Hossain, who gave away 42 runs in his first 5 overs, compensated by taking the wicket of Mendis and finally ending with an economy rate of 6.

Soumya, who has been shining with the ball as well recently, also took one wicket, the significant one of Perera, in exchange for 17 in 5 overs.