At the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, an important Super Four match took place between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. After losing to Pakistan in their opening Super Four match, Bangladesh needed to win the game in order to advance.
Opting to bowl first, Bangladesh pulled things back after Sri Lanka reached 108/1 on a slow track. Kusal Mendis patiently scored 50 runs before he got out.
On a challenging batting surface, Sadeera Samarawickrama seized the show with one of the greatest innings. The 28-year-old took calculated risks and batted an aggressive 93 runs off just 72 balls. During his innings, he hit two sixes and eight fours, giving the home team a fighting total of 257/9 in their 50 overs. Taskin and Hasan took three wickets each. Despite failing to claim a wicket, the spinners were quite efficient, only giving up 89 runs in the 23 overs they bowled.
In reply, Bangladesh got off to a strong start, scoring 55 runs in 11.1 overs before losing their first wicket. However, they quickly found themselves in trouble as they fell to 83/4. With a 72-run partnership, Mushfiqur Rahim and Towhid Hridoy revived the innings. The wicketkeeper-batter departed for 29 off 48 balls before Hridoy got to a half-century off 73 balls. Before Maheesh Theekshana sent the 22-year-old back to the hut, he played a magnificent innings of 97 in 82 balls.
The lower order of Bangladesh was unable to save them since they lost wickets in rapid succession. With a 20-run partnership off 12 balls in the penultimate wicket, Nasum Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud raised expectations for a stunning victory. However, Matheesha Pathirana dismissed the former, and the home team went on to win by 21 runs.
With this victory, Bangladesh's chances of qualifying are out of their own hands; instead, they will need to defeat India handily and pray that a number of outcomes go their way.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 257/9 in 50 overs (Sadeera Samarawickrama 93, Kusal Mendis 50; Hasan Mahmud 3-57, Taskin Ahmed 3-62) beat Bangladesh 236 in 48.1 overs (Towhid Hridoy 82, Dasun Shanaka 3-28, Matheesha Pathirana 3-58) by 21 runs.