Kandy, Sep 1: The first match of Group B of Asia Cup 2023 was played between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Defending Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka were invited to bowl first after Bangladesh captain Shakib won the toss.
As soon as the game started, Sri Lankan spin bowler Mahesh Theekshana dismissed Bangladeshi opener Tanzid Hasan LBW in his first and second overs of the game, before Bangladesh could recover from this injury, another Sri Lankan spinner Dhananjaya showed the way to the pavilion to Mohammad Naim. Sri Lankan bowlers did not give the Bangladeshi team a chance to emerge and in 11 overs they dismissed their captain Shakib on the ball of Matheesha Pathirana.
Bangladeshi pair Shanto and Towhid Hridoy held the innings together for a while, then Sri Lankan captain Shanaka broke the partnership and got Hridoy out.
Then the wickets continued to fall at intervals and Bangladesh was all out for just 164 runs.
For Bangladesh, Shanto played an excellent inning of 89 runs in 122 balls and for Sri Lanka, his bowler Matheesha Pathirana took 4 wickets and M Theekshana took 2 wickets.
The second innings was started by Sri Lankan openers Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne, however, Sri Lanka also did not have a good start, they lost their first wicket in the form of Dimuth Karunaratne for only 13 runs and lost their second wicket in the form of Pathum Nissanka for only 15 runs.
After playing fast for some time, Bangladesh captain Shakib himself took command of the bowling and bowled Kusal Mendis in his second over.
After this Sri Lankan batsmen Sadeera Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka took care of the innings and gave their team a comfortable victory.
For Sri Lanka, Sadeera scored 54 runs and Asalanka scored 62 runs, while for Bangladesh, Shakib took 2 wickets.
With this, defending champion Sri Lanka played Won its first game of the Asia Cup 2023. Sri Lanka’s second match will be played against Afghanistan on 5th September.
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