Nuwan Thushara’s hat-trick highlights Sri Lanka’s Thumping win over Bangladesh
Sri Lanka tour of Bangladesh (Third T20I)
Sri Lanka emerged victorious in the third and deciding match of the three-match T20 series against Bangladesh at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. The star of the match was pace bowler Nuwan Thushara, who delivered a sensational hat-trick that left the Bangladesh top order in disarray.
Chasing a target of 175, Bangladesh found themselves in trouble early on, losing five wickets within the first four overs. Thushara’s fiery spell accounted for three of those wickets, including the seasoned Mahmudullah. It was a remarkable performance by Thushara, who was playing only his eighth T20 match.
Prior to Thushara’s heroics, Dhananjaya de Silva had taken the first wicket by dismissing opener Liton Das. Bangladesh’s batting lineup struggled to recover from the early setbacks and eventually succumbed to a heavy defeat.
Towards the end of the innings, Rishad Hossain and Mahedi Hasan provided some consolation to the home crowd as they contributed 44 runs in the seventh wicket partnership.
However, the task of chasing the massive target had already become extremely difficult by then. Rishad displayed his power-hitting skills by hitting back-to-back sixes in the 11th over bowled by Hasaranga and again in the next over bowled by Maheesh Theekshana.
Mahedi Hasan fell victim to a tossed up delivery from Hasaranga, leaving Bangladesh at 76 for 7 in the fourteenth over. Despite Mahedi’s departure, Rishad continued to showcase his batting prowess by smashing three massive sixes over cow corner in the fifteenth over bowled by Theekshana, bringing up Bangladesh’s total to 100.
Rishad reached his fifty by launching another massive six over deep square leg in the sixteenth over bowled by Fernando. However, his sensational cameo of 53 runs off 30 balls came to an end in the seventeenth over, bowled by Theekshana, leaving Bangladesh at 117 for eight. Rishad’s innings included 7 sixes, the highest by any Bangladeshi batter in a T20 match.
In the eighth wicket partnership, Rishad and Taskin added 41 runs from 21 balls. Taskin also played a valuable cameo, scoring 31 runs off 21 balls before getting out in the last over. Despite the top order batters’ disappointing performance, Rishad and Taskin displayed determination and resilience, reducing the margin of defeat for Bangladesh.
Earlier after invited to bat first, Sri Lanka recorded a total of 174 for 7 in their innings, with opener Kusal Mendis playing an outstanding knock of 86 runs.
Taskin Ahmed provided Bangladesh with their first breakthrough in the fourth over, dismissing Dhananjaya de Silva for 8 runs. Sri Lanka managed to score 41 runs for the loss of 1 wicket during the powerplay. In the eighth over, Kamindu Mendis was caught by Shoriful off a delivery by Rishad Hossain, leaving Sri Lanka at 54 for 2. Wanindu Hasaranga joined Kusal Mendis in the middle and the two built a partnership of 59 runs off 31 balls. Mustafizur Rahman broke the partnership by dismissing Hasaranga. Shoriful took the wicket of Asalanka, but Kusal Mendis continued to score boundaries, posing a threat to the hosts. Taskin Ahmed once again played a crucial role in getting rid of Kusal Mendis, who was caught by Soumya Sarkar. Mendis scored 86 runs off 55 balls, including 6 boundaries and an equal number of sixes.
From their onwards Sri Lanka batters looked uncomfortable in the middle and finding it difficult to middle the ball.
However a quick fire of 8-ball 18 runs from Dasun Shanaka helped Sri Lanka reach the 170 run mark at the end of their allotted 20 overs.
Brief Scores:
Sri Lanka 174 for 7 (Kusal Mendis 86, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Rishad 2-35)
Bangladesh 146 all out (Rishad 53, Taskin Ahmed 31, Nuwan Thushara 5-20, Wanindu Hasaranga 2-32)
