For the third game in succession, Bangladesh batted first and got off to a decent start, but Sri Lanka pegged them back with three wickets by the halfway stage. Bangladesh were having to play catch-up cricket after their batting wasted good starts.
The pitch at the Shere Bangla Stadium had gotten a little slower but the game still had the makings of yet another high-scoring encounter. The Sri Lankans didn’t have a bowler of express pace to hurry the batsmen. Nuwan Kulasekara didn’t really bend his back and at times took the pace off the ball.
Despite Kulasekara’s maiden to Kayes, the openers ensured a scoring rate of more than five an over during the Powerplays. Tamim Iqbal set the tone for another innings of promise when he hooked Thilan Thushara over deep square-leg for six, but the shortlived excitement ended when he was trapped for 22 sweeping the offspinner Suraj Randiv. It was a premeditated sweep and Randiv outsmarted Tamim with a quicker delivery.
Mohammad Ashraful was also guilty of not converting his start. He risked a second run to third man but couldn’t beat Thushara’s direct hit and walked back for 13.
A lot now depended on the well-set Kayes. Like yesterday, he was let off early when a thick outside edge off Kulasekara went right in the sea of confusion between Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene at first slip. It should have been the wicktetkeeper’s catch, but nobody really made an attempt. Kayes was strong on the off side, even spanking one past three fielders in the ring. A compulsive hooker, he took Thushara to task with a six over fine leg, despite protection for the bowler in the deep. He was in sight of another fifty but played across the line to Thissara Perera and was trapped in front of the off stump.
It was upto the Hasans – Shakib and Raqibul – to consolidate after that. Six an over in the next 25 will take them to 265, but Bangladesh know that’s not a safe score in these conditions.
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