Photo: Collected
Gold or silver being a far cry, Bangladesh could not even win the bronze medal at this Asian Games. Losing to Sri Lanka by 63 runs in an extreme batting failure, Litton’s men had to return from the tournament empty-handed. Six batsmen in the match failed to reach double figures.
The match was held at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan, on Saturday. Coming out to bat in pursuit of the 166-run target set by the Lankans, Bangladesh fell into disaster.
None of the first three in the top order could open their account. Among them, captain Litton Das returned to the dressing room off the very first ball, Saif Hassan faced five balls and Tanzid Hasan two. Bangladesh lost four wickets within 18 runs and six within 50 runs. In the end Litton’s men stopped at 102, losing all their wickets in 17.3 overs.
Nasum Ahmed scored the highest 26 runs for the team. Yasir Ali made the second highest, 21. In addition, Parvez Hossain Emon scored 20, Towhid Hridoy 11, Rishad Hossain 10, Alis Al Islam 4 and Mustafizur Rahman 3. Mahedi Hasan could not open his account at all.
Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first. Though the start was not good, the Lankans turned things around in the sixth-wicket partnership. They lost 4 wickets within 21 runs and 5 within 54; the top 4 batters in the batting order scored 2, 3, 6 and 1 respectively. Mustafizur Rahman was lacklustre with the ball today as well.
After Ashen Bandara departed having played a fighting innings of 18 off 24 balls, captain Sahan Arachchige and Tharindu Ratnayake took charge of the innings. When Mustafizur came on to bowl in the 14th over, the Lankans took 25 runs off his over and lifted the run rate above six. Having conceded runs in extras, Mustafizur had to bowl 11 times in that over.
As in the previous match, Mustafizur had to struggle to find his rhythm on this day too. Taking the ball again in the 17th over, however, he troubled Arachchige and company: though he conceded a four at the start of the over and gave away two wides, he gave away just 5 runs in total off the remaining 5 legal deliveries.
But the partnership of Arachchige and Tharindu kept adding to Bangladesh’s regret, especially when a catch slipped through the hands of Parvez Hossain Emon in the 18th over. It was Mustafizur who broke the partnership in the 19th over, and he got one more wicket in the same over.
Before departing, Tharindu scored 65 off 32 balls, with seven fours and five sixes. Sri Lanka lost their way in the last over, with Saif Hassan claiming a pair of wickets in that one over. Sheikh Mahedi was denied a wicket as his foot touched the boundary line after he took a catch.
In the end, Sri Lanka’s total stopped at 165 for the loss of 9 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. Like Saif, Mustafizur and Mahedi also took two wickets each.
Bangladesh
Saif Hassan, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Litton Das (captain), Parvez Hossain Emon, Towhid Hridoy, Yasir Ali, Rishad Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Alis Al Islam.
Sri Lanka
Sineth Jayawardena, Lasith Croospulle, Sohan de Livera, Nuwanidu Fernando, Sahan Arachchige (captain), Ashen Bandara, Dushan Hemantha, Wanuja Sahan, Nuwan Thushara, Tharindu Ratnayake and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth.
