Sri Lanka beats Bangladesh by 6 wickets in 1st Twenty20
Sri Lankan batsmen Seekkuge Prasanna, center, and Thisara Perera run between wickets as Bangladeshi bowler Taskin Ahmed, left, watches during the first Twenty20 cricket match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Colombo. APKusal Perera hit 77 runs off 53 deliveries to propel Sri Lanka to a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first of their two Twenty20 internationals on Tuesday.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and elected to bat first, with his team going on to make 155 for six wickets in 20 overs. Mosaddek Hossain top-scored for the tourists with an unbeaten 34.
Lasith Malinga took two wickets for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka reached its target with seven deliveries to spare. Perera\’s sixth half-century innings in Twenty20 internationals included a six and nine boundaries.
Malinga gave Sri Lanka a promising start with the ball, bowling out in-form Tamim Iqbal with the second delivery of the match.
But Soumya Sarkar (29) and Sabbir Rahman (16) led a recovery, adding 57 runs for the second wicket with more than 10 runs an over. But a brilliant direct hit from Seekkuge Prasanna found Rahman inches short of his crease.
Bangladesh lost another wicket without addition to the score when Sarkar was caught by Thisara Perera off seamer Vikum Sanjaya.
Sri Lanka\’s bowlers soon had Bangladesh 82 for five, before Hossain and Mahmudullah Riyad shared 57 runs for the sixth wicket to the tourists a competitive total.
Kusal Perera led Sri Lanka\’s reply, sharing 65 runs at a run rate of 10 per over with captain Upul Tharanga.
Tharanga was caught by Mustafizur Rahman off a delivery from Mortaza, who then caught and bowled Dilshan Munaweera for eight.
Asela Gunaratne was run out for 17 and Perera was out last caught by Sarkar off seam bowler Taskin Ahmed.
Prasanna scored 22 runs off 12 deliveries including two sixes and a boundary to seal Sri Lanka\’s victory.
Mortaza returned 2-32.
The second Twenty20, and final match of the Bangladesh tour, will be played on Thursday.
SOURCE: AP
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