Bangladesh begin Asia Cup with five-wicket defeat

The newest chapter of the 'Nagin Dance' rivalry of international cricket will be written today as Bangladesh take on Sri Lanka in both team's first match of the 2023 Asia Cup in Pallekele.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan will begin his reign as the new ODI skipper. Opener Tanzid Hasan Tamim will make his debut while Mahedi Hasan and Mohammad Naim have been recalled into the team.

Sri Lanka are also coming in with a new look team as four of their frontline bowlers are out of action due to injuries.

Shakib Al Hasan won his first toss as the new ODI captain and opted to bat first.

Bangladesh: Mohammed Naim, Tanzid Tamim, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mehedi Hasan, Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Matheesha Pathirana

Mohammad Naim is making his comeback to the ODI team after around eight months.

All-rounder Mahedi Hasan is getting the reward for his performance in the Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in July and will be playin his first ODI since March 2021.

Mohammad Naim and Tanzid Hasan Tamim have come out to open the innings for Bangladesh. Kasun Rajitha opens the proceedings for Sri Lanka.

After a couple of dot deliveries, Mohammad Naim got off the mark with a boundary through the covers.

Bangladesh 4-0 after the first over.

Tanzid's ODI career got off to a poor start, as he was bamboozled by Sri Lanka's mystery spinner Maheesh Thikshana and got trapped leg-before wicket for a second-ball duck.

Nazmul Hossain Shanto replaces him in the middle. Shanto did negotiated with three deliveries before getting hit on the pads in the last ball, much like Tanzid.

The on-field umpire gives it not out, but Sri Lanka reviews. But thankfully for Shanto, the ball pitched outside the leg-stump. Sri Lanka lose a review.

Bangladesh 4-1 after 2 overs.

Much like the first over, Naim hit a four and played five dot balls against Rajitha. The boundary came off an on-drive, assisted by a slight misfield from the mid-on fielder.

Bangladesh 8-1 after three overs.

Shanto survives a close call off Rajitha. Dasun Shanaka at mid-on dived forward to take the catch but the ball popped out of palms.

Bangladesh reach 12-1 after five overs.

Shanto hits Theekshana for a boundary with a sweep shot. After struggling to cope with what the mystery spinner was dishing out, Shanto and Naim looked more comfortable in this over, which yielded six runs.

Bangladesh reach 18-1 after six overs.

Naim hit his third boundary in the innings with a cover drive, moving to 15 off 20 balls.

Naim has already scored more runs today then in the previous three matches of his ODI career (10).

Bangladesh are 23-1 after seven overs.

Shanaka introduced off-spinner Dhananjya de Silva into the attack and the move immediately paid dividends as Naim top-edged a shot and got caught by Nissanka at point.

Naim was looking in control before his departure, hitting three fours against pacer Rajitha. But in the end lost his wicket to Dhananjaya.

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan replaces Naim in the middle.

The eighth over ends with Bangladesh struggling on 25-2.

Tanzid and Naim opened the innings for Bangladesh against Sri Lanka. After their dismissals, Shanto and Shakib replaced them respectively. Interestingly, all four of the Bangladesh batters so far in the innings are left-handers.

This is only the fourth time Bangladesh have done this in ODIs.

After facing five dot deliveries, Shakib opened his account with a cracking cover drive against Rajitha.

Bangladesh reached 31-2 after nine overs.

Sri Lanka are firmly on top after the first 10 overs of the match with Bangladesh stuttering at 34-2 after the 1st powerplay.

Spinners Theekshana and Dhananjaya have done the damage, dismissing both Bangladesh openers.

Shanto and Shakib now have the task of rebuilding the innings and are unbeaten on 12 and five respectively.

Matheesha Pathirana came into the attack and made an immediate impact, dismissing the Bangladesh captain Shakib for five.

Shakib attempted a cut shot against the the pacer, whose action is quite similar to Lankan legend Lasith Malinga. But the ball was too close to cut, got an outside edge and the wicketkeeper took a sharp diving catch to complete the dismissal.

Towhid Hridoy joins Shanto. Bangladesh reach 37-3 after 11 overs

Shanto hit a commanding pull shot against Pathirana as Bangladesh reached 50 in the innings in the 13th over.

Shanto is now batting on 22 while Towhid is on a run-a-ball five.

Bangladesh reached 65-3 in 16.1 overs when rain stopped play.

Shanto and Towhid were at the middle for Bangladesh, batting on 33 and nine respectively.

However, the rain interruption is likely to be a brief one as the its only a heavy drizzle. Players of both teams are standing near the ropes.

The rain interruption barely lasted five minutes as the drizzle stopped almost immediately after the covers came on.

The match has resumed and Bangladesh have reached 68-3 after 17 overs.

Shanto nearly got run out in the 19th over but survived owing to a poor throw.

Towhid played off-spinner Wellalage to the off-side and Shanto immediately took off for the single. Towhid initially responded positively but then sent Shanto back, who was already in the middle of the pitch.

But Shanto did well to rush back to the crease and the throw from the fielder was also a poor one.

Bangladesh reached 70-3 after 19 overs.

Bangladesh's struggle continued in the second 10-over period of the match, which yielded 41 runs and cost them the wicket of Shakib.

Shanto is looking the set, batting on 40 off 57 balls. Towhid, at the other end, is batting uncharacteristically slow and has made 12 off 27 balls.

Sri Lankan spinners are dominating so far, not allowing Bangladesh any chance to infuse some momentum in the innings.

Shanto and Towhid got together when Bangladesh were stuttering at 36-3. The young duo have since then taken the score to 88-3 after 23 overs, adding 52 runs for the fourth wicket so far.

Shanto is five runs away from a half-century while Hridoy is batting on 20 off 40 balls.

Shanto hit a boundary from a cut shot against Shanaka to complete his fourth half-century in ODIs in the 24th over .

Shanto has so far hit four boundaries in a hard fought innings.

Just one ball after Shanto completed his half-century, Bangladesh suffered a big blow as Towhid Hridoy got trapped leg-before wicket by Shanaka.

Towhid charged down the ground to medium pacer Shanaka but missed the delivery, which moved inwards ever so slightly and hit him on the pad.

The on-field umpire initially gave it not out. But Shanaka immediately reviewed the decision and the third umpire rightfully overturned the original decision.

Towhid made 20 off 41 balls in a boundaryless innings. His dismissal ended a 59-run partnership and reduced Bangladesh to 95-4 after 24 overs.

Spinner Wellalage hit Shanto on the pads and went up for appeal, which the umpire turned down. Sri Lanka hoped to overturn the umpire's decision for the second over in a row and took a referral.

However, this time replays showed that the on-field umpire had got it right and as a result the Sri Lankans have lost all of their reviews in the innings.

At the halfway mark of the innings, Bangladesh have reached 97-4 with Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim batting on 53 and one respectively.

It took 154 balls for Bangladesh to finally reach the three-figure mark in the innings.

Mushfiq nidged the ball towards cover and took a single to complete the team 100.

At the end of the 26th over, Bangladesh are 102-4.

Shanto pulled off-spinner Wellalage for a four in the last ball of the 27th over to complete a 12-run over, Bangladesh's most productive over in the innings.

Mushfiq had hit a four in the first ball of the over with a reverse sweep. Wellalage also bowled a no-ball in the over but Mushfiq couldn't score any runs off the free hit.

Mushfiq can count himself extremely lucky as he was caught behind the wicket off Pathirana but the on-field umpire ruled it not out.

Sri Lanka are also all out of reviews so they couldn't referred the decision to the third umpire.

It was a widish delivery from Pathirana, which Mushfiq tried to cut. Initially it seemed that Mushfiq completely missed the ball but replays showed that there was a faint edge.

At 31 overs, Bangladesh are at 125-4.

Mushfiq could add only just one run after his lucky reprieve, getting caught at third man.

Mushfiq hit an upper-cut to short delivery from Pathirana, but the ball didn't go as fine as he wanted it to go and went straight into the hands of Karunaratne.

Mushiq departs for 13 off 22 balls. Mehidy Hasan Miraz replaced him at the middle.

Bangladesh are 127-5 after 33 overs.

Shanto punched a delivery from Dhananjaya through mid-on in the 36th over for Bangladesh's first boundary after 52 deliveries.

Sri Lankan bowlers have been dominating this passage of play with Shanto and Mehidy Hasan Miraz struggling to rotate the strike or to hit boundaries.

Shanto has moved onto 75 off 109 balls while Miraz is batting on five. Bangladesh have reached 140-5 after 36 overs.

Bangladesh lost its sixth wicket as Miraz was adjudged run out after he and Shanto were standing at the striker's end while pacer Rajitha removed the bail's at the other end.

Miraz played the ball to the leg-side and Shanto immediately called for the run. Shanto sprinted and reached the other end first while Miraz, who was against the run, was left standing a couple of steps down the striker's end.

Both Shanto and Miraz were inside the striker's end when the bails were taken off but as Shanto had entered the crease before Miraz, the third umpire ruled him out.

Mahedi Hasan replaces his namesake at the middle who made five runs, with Bangladesh at 145-6 after 37 overs.

Bangladesh head into the final 10 overs of their innings with little momentum as other than Shanto, who is batting on 88, no other Bangladesh batter has come good so far.

Mahedi Hasan is giving Shanto company at the middle and is unbeaten on five off 12 balls.

Bangladesh would be hoping to take their score around 220 to give their bowlers a chance but everything depends how long can Shanto bat on.

Much like Naim, Mahedi couldn't make any impression in his comeback innings in the ODI side, making only six before getting adjudged LBW off Wellalage.

Bangladesh are now down to the bowlers as Taskin Ahmed has joined Shanto in the middle. After 41 overs, Bangladesh have 162-7 on the board.

Shanto's lone battle finally came to an end in the 42nd over as the left-hander got bowled by Theekshana to depart for a hard fought 89 off 122 deliveries.

Shanto misjudged a carrom ball from Theekshana and the ball went through the gap between the bat and the pad and crashed into the stumps.

Shoriful Islam has joined Taskin in the middle and Bangladesh are now staring at the possibility of getting bundled out well below 200.

Theekshana deceived Taskin with a slower delivery as the ball hit the edge of his bat and balloned up in the sky for an easy catch for Theekshana.

Bangladesh are now reduced to 164-9 in 42.2 overs.

Theekshana hit the final nail in Bangladesh's coffin as the pacer trapped Mustafizur Rahman for a plumb LBW which ended the Bangladesh innings on 164 in 42.4 overs.

Pathirana and Theekshana, the two Chennai Super Kings bowler from the Indian Premier League, proved to be too much to handle for the Bangladesh batters, who surrendered to their skills.

Pacer Pathirana took 4-32 while mystery spinner Theekshana took 2-19 in eight overs to not allow Bangladesh get going in any passage of the innings.

For Bangladesh, Shanto was the only shining point in the entire innings as the one-down batter scored more than half of the team's total runs in the match.

Shanto saw other batters throw their wickets at the other end. But the left-hander kept his composure and made his second highest score in 50-over cricket.

Shanto hit seven boundaries in the innings, whereas the rest of the batters combined scored five.

The Bangladesh bowlers will now have to try and defend a total which looks way below par.

A lot will depend on how Bangladesh begins the second innings. If the pacers can't make early inroads, the Lankans will most probably cruise to the target.

Taskin Ahmed conceded four runs in the first over of the Sri Lankan chase. Pathum Nissanka scored all four of those runs while his opening partner Dimuth Karunaratne is yet to face a delivery.

Shoriful Islam came into the bowl the second over and the left-arm pacer gave away nine runs.

Shoriful hit Nissanka on the pads once, but the ball had pitched outside the leg-stump.

Sri Lanka are 13-0 after two overs.

Taskin broke through the defences of Dimuth Karunaratne with an in-swinging delivery that shattered the stumps, giving Bangladesh their first breakthrough.

After dismissing Karunaratne for one in the first ball, Taskin tested new batter Kusal Mendis in the remaining five deliveries, ending the over as a wicket maiden.

Bangladesh got their second breakthrough in the match in the following over, this time Shoriful inducing an outside edge off Nissanka, which Mushfiqur Rahim gleefully caught behind the stumps.

Nissanka made 14 off 13 deliveries and was looking comfortable against Shoriful, before edging a widish delivery from the left-arm pacer.

Sadeera Samarawickrama joined Kusal Mendis to the middle. Sri Lanka reached 16-2 after four overs.

4, 4, 1wd

This is what happened in the first three deliveries of Taskin's over. The pacer didn't concede any more runs for the rest of the over, still the initial wayward deliveries cost him 10 runs in the over.

After six overs, Sri Lanka are 26-2.

Kusal Mendis pulled a short ball from Taskin and scrambled for a single to finally get off the mark in the 15th delivery he faced.

At the end of the over, Sri Lanka reached 33-2 with Sadeera on 14 and Mendis on 1.

Bangladesh introduced spin for the first time in the eighth over, with skipper Shakib Al Hasan.

Shakib bowled a tight over, surprising Mendis with a ball that turned sharply after pitching on leg stump.

The over cost Bangladesh three runs as Sri Lanka reached 36-2.

Mustafizur Rahman came into the attack in the ninth over and conceded six runs, which included a boundary from the bat of Mendis.

After nine overs, Sri Lanka are 42-2. Bangladesh are in need of wickets.

Shakib went through the defenses of Kusal Mendis to bowl him out for five and give Bangladesh their third wicket in the 1st powerplay.

Shakib got the wicket with his trademark arm-ball, which sneaked through the gap between bat and pad and rattled the stumps.

With the wicket, Bangladesh have reduced Sri Lanka to 44-3 after 10 overs, giving the Tigers some hope of pulling off an unlikely victory after the batters posted a mere 164.

Charith Asalanka now joins Sadeera in the middle.

Shakib removed Mustafiz with off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the 11th over, who conceded five of his first over.

Sri Lanka are one run short of 50 after 11 overs.

The second recognised off-spinner in the Bangladesh team Mahedi Hasan joined the attack at the other end, as Shakib has decided to use off-spin from both ends.

Mahedi started well, conceding only one run in the over.

Sri Lanka are 50-3 after 12 overs.

Shakib had appealed for a catch against Asalanka, which the umpire had turned down. But Shakib went for a referral straightaway, without consulting anyone else.

The replays showed that there was no bat involved, as the ball hit the batters pad and then balloned up before getting caught by Mushfiq.

Shakib conceded just three runs in the over as Sri Lanka reached 61-3 after 15 overs.

Skipper Shakib is desperate to break the Sadeera-Asalanka partnership as the duo is slowly taking Sri Lanka to a position of power.

After the spinners failed to do the trick, Shakib turned to Mustafiz. But the pacer also disappointed, conceding eight runs in the 18th over.

Sri Lanka need just 88 runs from 32 overs with seven wickets in hand.

Sadeera and Asalanka are slowly taking the match away from Bangladesh as the duo has guided Sri Lanka to 100-3 after 22 overs.

Sadeera is seven runs short of a half-century while Asalanka is batting on 26.

Sri Lanka need 65 runs off 28 overs with seven wickets in hand.

Sadeera completed his fourth fifty in ODIs as Sri Lanka inch closer to a comprehensive win over the Tigers.

Sadeera completed the half-century off 59 balls with the help of six fours. He reached the milestone with a single off Shoriful.

Sri Lanka now need 51 runs to win off 26 overs.

Mahedi broke the Sadeera-Asalanka partnership in the 30th over by getting the former stumped for 54.

Sadeera came down the track to the off-spinner but couldn't make any connection with the ball, Mushfiq did the rest behind the stumps.

The wicket ended a 78-run partnership which has all but sealed the fate of the match.

After 30 overs, Sri Lanka need 42 runs to win with six wickets in hand.

Is there a twist at the tale?

After Mahedi removed Sadeera, Shakib dismisses Dhananjaya de Silva for two in the following over, giving Bangladesh a faint hope of a comeback.

Similar to the Sadeera dismissal, Dhananjaya charged down the wicket to Shakib. Shakib saw him and reacted by spearing in a fuller length delivery which smashed into the stumps.

The match is still very much leaning Sri Lanka's way as the hosts only need 37 runs to win with 19 overs to go.

Asalanka took a single off a misfield from Shanto to complete his half-century off 85 balls.

Asalanka has hit four boundaries in his innings and his partnership with Sadeera set up the chase for Sri Lanka.

After 37 overs, Sri Lanka are just 15 runs away from victory.

The writing was in the wall for quite some time. Asalanka hit the final nail in Bangladesh's coffin with a boundary off Taskin to complete a comprehensive five-wicket win for Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

Asalanka remained unbeaten on 62 off 92 balls while skipper Dasun Shanak remained unbeaten on 14 off 21 balls.

It was the 78-run fourth wicket partnership between Asalanka and Sadeera that set up the victory for Sri Lanka.

For Bangladesh, Shakib claimed 2-29 while Taskin, Shoriful and Mahedi claimed one wicket each but it wasn't enough to make up for the abysmal batting performance.

Najmul Hossain Shanto was the only Bangladesh batter who showed some fight, scoring 89 off 122 balls. The rest of the 10 batters combined scored 67 runs.

Pacer Matheesha Pathirana took four wickets while Maheesh Thikshana claimed 2-19 for Sri Lanka.

The defeat against Sri Lanka in the first match has turned Bangladesh's second group-stage match against Afghanistan into a must-win encounter.

A defeat against Afghanistan would mean the Tigers would have to fly back home without reaching the Super 4 phase for two straight Asia Cups.

That match will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan on 3 September 2023.