After bowling Sri Lanka out for 255 runs, Bangladesh stormed to 257-4 in 44.4 overs behind Najmul’s 122 and the solid support of Mushfiqur Rahim, one of his former captains.
In the opening one-day international of a three-match series against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh defeated the Lankans easily in Chittagong on Wednesday thanks to an undefeated century from captain Najmul Hossain Shanto.
After bowling out Sri Lanka for 255 runs, Bangladesh raced to 257-4 in 44.4 overs behind Najmul’s 122 not out off 129 balls and the solid support of one of his predecessors as captain, Mushfiqur Rahim, who remained undefeated at 73.
Together at 92-4, the duo prevented Bangladesh from collapsing in the middle of the innings by adding 165 runs in their uninterrupted fifth-wicket stand.
In just over five overs, Bangladesh was reduced to 23-3 after Dilshan Madushanka claimed two early wickets and Pramod Madushan followed suit.
Mahmudullah Riyad and Najmul put up 69 runs for the fourth wicket to fend off the first threat.
However, Najmul and Mushfiqur prevented Sri Lanka from winning any more matches. Lahiru Kumara broke the partnership by dismissing Mahmudullah for 37.
To reach his third ODI century off 108 balls, Najmul cut Kumara for a boundary. Maheesh Theekshana then gave him a four to end the game.
“We were aware that the new ball would be difficult, so I simply took a little while,” Najmul remarked. “In the end, the dew made the wicket extremely simple.”
Prior to this, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, and Shoriful Islam each took three wickets to limit the Sri Lankan batting.
Sri Lanka chose to bat first, and Kusal Mendis amassed 59 off 75 balls to lead the team in scoring after Janith Liyanage top-scored with 67 off 69 balls.
With openers Pathum Nissanka (36) and Avishka Fernando (33) contributing 71 in less than 10 overs, the visiting team got off to a fantastic start.
Tanzim finished with 3-44 after taking three wickets in rapid succession to halt the run-flow.
To stave off a total collapse, Mendis and Charith Asalanka (18) put up 44 runs for the fourth wicket.
Following Asalanka’s dismissal by Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Liyanage joined Mendis.
Mendis bemoaned the middle-overs batting of the tourists.
He claimed that “Pathum and Avishka batted really well in the first 10 overs.” After that, the middle order had some difficulty. On this surface, I believe a score of 280 or higher would have been preferable.
Mendis’s encouraging innings came to an end when Taskin forced the skipper of Sri Lanka to concede a catch to Najmul, his Bangladeshi opponent, at mid-off.
Wanindu Hasaranga and Theekshana were removed by Taskin, who finished with 3-60, but Liyanage made sure Sri Lanka still managed to score a respectable amount.
Liyanage was removed by Shoriful (3-51), who then completed Sri Lanka’s batting in 48.5 overs.
The previous T20 series was won 2-1 by the visiting team.
Since the World Cup in India last year, when legendary Sri Lankan batsman Angelo Mathews became the first player in the 146-year history of international cricket to be dismissed timed out, this was the first ODI between the two nations.
The series will be concluded on Monday after the two teams’ next meeting on Friday.
