Sri Lanka’s woes in the 50-over format continue as they got thrashed by 6 wickets in the opening match of the 3-match ODI series against Bangladesh yesterday (13) at Chattogram. 

From winning the toss and deciding to bat, the visiting Lions got it all wrong once again in the 50-over format as Bangladesh made light work in chasing a modest 255. Despite losing 3 for 23 runs, the hosts not only recovered swiftly, but cantered home with 32 balls to spare. 

The heroes were skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto who anchored the innings with splendid 122 while senior-pro and Sri Lanka’s all-time nemesis Mushfiqur Rahim scored an unbeaten 73. 

Skipper Kusal Mendis got it horribly wrong after winning the toss and electing to bat first. Having trained under lights a couple of nights back and played 3 T20i’s last week, the think tank of the Sri Lankan team should have known better not to bat first with the heavy fee which was almost certainly in the night. 

The Sri Lankan spinners only had an average turn of 0.6 degrees in the night while the Bangladeshi spinners enjoyed 2.0 degrees of spin in much drier conditions during the day. 

Sri Lanka collapse at the death 

With the bat too, the Lankans were in a prime spot at 221 for 5 in the 40th over with set batter Janith Liyanage and Wanindu Hasaranaga in the crease. But the visitors squashed their chances of posting anything around 300 when both Hasaranga and Liyanage were dismissed by the 47th over. 

However, skipper Kusal Mendis continued his good run with the bat scoring 59 while openers Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando provided a solid start at the top. 

Bangladesh seamers were top notch with the ball sharing 3 wickets each amongst Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, and Tanzim Hasan Sakib.