Bangladesh knocked out of Asia Cup, lose to Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka won a thriller chasing 184 and knocked Bangladesh out of the ongoing Asia Cup Thursday night in the UAE.

Put in to bat first, Bangladesh scored 183 and Sri Lanka chased it down with three balls to play and two wickets to spare.

Kusal Mendis (60 off 37) and captain Dasun Shanaka (45 off 33) led the Lankans to the next phase of the tournament.

In the last four overs, Sri Lanka needed 43 runs with Shanaka and Karunaratne at the crease. Mustafizur Rahman gave away 9 runs in the 17th over, and Mahedi Hasan also conceded as many runs in the 18th.

Eabadot Hossain, who bagged three wickets in the match, conceded 17 runs in the 19th over. In the last over, Mahedi failed to defend eight runs.

Earlier, Bangladesh scored 183-7. Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mosaddek Hossain helped the Tigers post a total that they could defend.

Bangladesh changed their opening pair in the match, dropping Anamul Haque Bijoy and Mohammad Naim and paving the way for Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Sabbir Rahman.

The plan worked for the Tigers. However, Sabbir failed to impress despite hitting a four off the first ball he faced in international cricket after a break of three years.

Mehidy scored 38 off 26 balls with two sixes and two fours and Bangladesh scored 55-1 – the highest powerplay total in the ongoing Asia Cup so far.

After Sabbir fell, Mushfiqur Rahim failed once again (4 off 5).

Shakib scored 21 off 22 with three fours and completed 6,000 runs in T20s – both international and domestic.

In the first 10 overs, Bangladesh scored 85-3. In the next five overs, their score stood at 123-4.

Afif anchored Bangladesh during the middle overs. Before falling prey to Dilshan Madushanka, he scored 39 off 22 balls with four fours and two sixes. In the fifth wicket stand, Afif and Mahmudullah Riyad added 57 runs off 37 balls.

In the last five overs, Bangladesh scored 60 runs. Mosaddek scored 29 off 9 balls with four fours. Taskin Ahmed scored 11 off six balls with a six. For Sri Lanka, Hasaranga and Chamika Karunaratne scalped two wickets each.

With this win, Sri Lanka qualified for the next phase of the Asia Cup as the second team after Afghanistan from Group B.

Bangladesh ended their Asia Cup campaign without a win.