PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka: Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka by three wickets in the third and final one-day international in Pallekele yesterday to level the series 1-1. Bangladesh, chasing a rain-revised target of 183 off 27 overs, won the day-night match with six balls to spare.
Opener Anamul Haque (40) and Nasir Hossain (33 not out) were the main scorers for Bangladesh.
Tillakaratne Dilshan earlier top-scored for Sri Lanka with a solid 125, while Kusal Perera (56) and Kumar Sangakkara (48) were the other main scorers.
Bangladesh’s left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak finished with 5-62 off 10 overs.
Sri Lanka won the opening match by eight wickets in Hambantota while the second one-dayer at the same venue was abandoned due to rain.
Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim said “It’s a huge win for us, it was a challenge for us to do well against big teams, so very happy with the effort. We have not been in such situations before and that’s why the boys were panicking, but we pulled it off. Nasir is one for the future and he showed it again.”
Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews: “We were disappointed as we had runs on the board. The bowling let us down today, we batted brilliantly even though we lost out way in the middle. Senanayake has been brilliant, Kula had an off day today.”
Dilshan who was declared the Man of the Series said:”I am in great form since the Test matches, but today being in the losing side has hurt. I like this pitch, I think this is the best wicket in Sri Lanka. Marvan has helped me tweak some issues in my batting and that has helped me in my batting.AGENCIES
