Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by five wickets in their T20 World Cup Super-12 Group 1 match in Sharjah on Sunday, with young left-hander Charith Asalanka smashing an incredible 80 off 49 balls and fellow lefty Bhanuka Rajapaksa making a match-winning half-century.
Sri Lanka was in a mid-innings crisis when their batting order had collapsed, but they managed to pull off the target of 172 runs with extra 7 balls left, thanks to the brilliant innings of Charith Asalanka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa. With both players hitting half centuries, the duo scored together 86 runs in fast time for the fifth wicket in only 8.4 overs.
Before Sunday’s encounter, the 24-year-old Asalanka, who had only played eight ODIs and four T20Is, kept Sri Lanka batting together with an exciting unbeaten knock that included five fours and as many sixes. He was thus named the man of the match for his incredible innings.
Despite the early setback, Sri Lanka was on top, with Asalanka dominating the boundaries. In the third over, he hit Nasum for two sixes and then blasted Mahedi Hasan for another maximum, taking Sri Lanka to 54 for 1 at the end of the powerplay.
Sri Lanka had only scored 80 runs for 4 at the midway point, but set-batter Asalanka kept them in the game with fifty off 32 balls. In the 14th over, he lifted Mahmudullah for two sixes, indicating that he was on fire.