Sri Lankan cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan plays a shot during the opening one-day international (ODI) match against Bangladesh at the Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in the southern district of Hambantota, yesterday.
HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan hammered an unbeaten 113 to fire Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first one-dayer, marked by a power failure and bees’ invasion yesterday.
The opener hit 11 fours in his 15th one-day century as Sri Lanka, chasing a revised target of 238 in 41 overs following the outage, won the day-night match in Hambantota with 32 balls to spare for a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Dilshan also upstaged Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal who scored an impressive 112 for his fourth one-day ton to prop up the innings, briefly halted by a swarm of bees in the afternoon that forced some of the players to lie on the ground.
The play was held up for more than 90 minutes due to the power failure, first during the Bangladeshi innings and then before the start of Sri Lanka’s chase.The organisers apologised for the power failures, saying an investigation will soon be launched. Sri Lanka got off to a flying start as Dilshan and Kushal Perera (42) put on 106 off just 12.1 overs for the opening wicket. Dilshan then added 128 for the second wicket with Kumar Sangakkara (63). AFP
