Mahela Jayawardene and Upul Tharanga cracked solid centuries as Sri Lanka stormed into the triangular one-day series final with a crushing nine-wicket win over Bangladesh yesterday
Mahela Jayawardene and Upul Tharanga cracked solid centuries as Sri Lanka stormed into the triangular one-day series final with a crushing nine-wicket win over Bangladesh yesterday.
Makeshift opener Jayawardene hit 108 for his 12th one-day hundred and Tharanga an unbeaten 118 for his
eighth century as Sri Lanka surpassed Bangladesh's 249-9 with more than seven overs to spare in the day-night match.
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Sri Lanka's previous best for the opening wicket against Bangladesh in one-day internationals was 201 between Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara in an Asia Cup match in Karachi in 2008. "Mahela did a fantastic job today. The wicket was a little slow to start off with and it helped us," said Sri Lanka captain Sangakkara.
Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan used as many as eight bowlers, but none could keep the pressure on Jayawardene and Tharanga who continued to dominate the rival attack with attractive shots. Jayawardene, a middle-order batsman initially rested for this tournament before being summoned following injuries to a couple of players, looked in good touch from the beginning.
He went for shots early in his innings and took 15 runs in an over from paceman Rubel Hossain, including three fours. He reached his century in style, firmly cutting spinner Abdur Razzak for a four.
Jayawardene hit 13 fours in his 117-ball knock before being caught behind off spinner Naeem Islam, while man-of-the-match Tharanga's 126-ball knock contained 18 fours.
"We should have scored at least 30 more runs, but lost too many wickets in the end. Hopefully, we'll do better next time," said Bangladesh skipper Shakib.
Sri Lanka earlier did not allow the hosts to build big partnerships with a disciplined bowling effort, with seamers Thissara Perera and Nuwan Kulasekara, and off-spinner Suraj Randiv grabbing two wickets apiece.
The highest stand of the innings was 77 for the fourth wicket between Shakib (47) and Raqibul Hasan (43), but it was not good enough to help their side set a stiff target.
Imrul Kayes (42), Mushfiqur Rahim (32) and Tamim Iqbal (21) also got starts, but failed to convert them into big knocks.
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