Photo: STAR
Bangladesh were without their ODI skipper Shakib Al Hasan in their first warm-up match of the World Cup at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati against Sri Lanka on Friday.
The Lankans were bowled out for 263 after opting to bat first by the Tigers who were led by all-rounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz.
Commentator Dinesh Karthik said on air following the start of the match that Shakib didn’t feature in the game due to an injury that he suffered on his ankle while playing football in training yesterday. The extent of the injury, however, is not severe, a source has said and the ace all-rounder has been rested a precautionary measure.Â
The Tigers will play another warm-up match against England on October 2 before taking on Afghanistan in their opening World Cup fixture on October 7.
Against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh had seven bowlers bowl in total, meaning all of their frontline bowlers apart from Mustafizur Rahman had a go.
Off-spinner Sheikh Mahedi Hasan was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped three wickets for 36 runs after Sri Lanka got off to a blistering start, courtesy of their openers Pathum Nissanka (68) and Kusal Perera, who left the field after feeling discomfort on his shoulder.
Sri Lanka made use of the new ball on a hard pitch that looked good for batting as they raced past the 100-run mark in the 14th over but once the Bangladesh spinner had settled into a rhythm, the Lankan batter found it difficult to milk the runs.Â
Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed removed Kusal Mendis in the 15th over and Mahedi dismissed Sadeera Samarawickrama in the very next next over to peg the Lankans back.Â
Mahedi got the key wicket of Nissanka, who looked to launch following his fifty, and then came back to remove Cahrith Asalanka in the 29th over to reduce Sri Lanka to four down for 164.
Sri Lanka batter Dhananjaya de Silva then played a 79-ball 55-run knock and the tail made a few valuable contributions to help Sri Lanka past 250.
