The Tigers have set a challenging target of 172 for the Lions to in their opening fixture in Super 12.
Winning the toss, Sri Lanka decided to put Bangladesh into batting. Both the teams came into the game with one change each.
Bangladesh picked up Nasum Ahmed in place of Taskin Ahmed to further strengthen their spin department. On the other hand, Sri Lanka were forced to replace injured Maheesh Theekshana with Binura Fernando.
While Bangladesh decided to reduce a seam option to accommodate three spinners in the XI, Sri Lanka opted to go with four seamers alongside the lone proper spin option in the form of Hasaranga.
Bangladesh have failed to utilise the powerplay throughout the tournament so far. As things started to look good in this game, Liton Das (16) lost his wicket to Lahiru Kumara.
The Tigers managed to accumulate 41 runs on the board during the powerplay.
But the highlight of the powerplay has been the ugly scenes centred around Lahiru, Naim, and Liton.
The attempt of the bowler to show aggression by throwing the ball at Naim and the exchange of words between the same bowler and Liton created heat in the middle.
Halfway through, Bangladesh were at 72/2 after losing Shakib Al Hasan for 10.
In the fourteenth over, Naim lofted the fourth delivery straight down the ground-- one bounce over the fence to reach his half-century as well as the team’s hundred.
Just when the acceleration was on the cards, Naim (62 off 52 balls) got himself dismissed in the first ball of the sixteenth as he top-edged one to the bowler, Binura Fernando.
Mushfiqur Rahim showed glimpses of his original self as he reached fifty off just 32 deliveries in the penultimate over.
However, the Tigers will definitely feel that they could have maximised the slog overs even more given the number of wickets they had in hand at the beginning of the last four overs. They managed to accumulate 42 runs in that period.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah were unbeaten at the crease with 57 (37) and 10 (5) respectively.
For Sri Lanka, Chamika Karunaratne, Binura Fernando, and Lahiru Kumara, all chipped in with one wicket each.
