The Tigers had been suffering from a winning drought. They were deprived of victory for the last ten matches. Cricketers were writing failure stories in all the three editions of Test, ODI or T20. No doubt the red-green representatives were quite uneasy about this. Tamim Iqbal and his comrades gave up that nightmare by defeating Sri Lanka by 33 runs in the first ODI. Breaking the shell of discomfort, the courageous boys of the country came out in a colorful wave of victory. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.
Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad showed their power with the bat in the beginning. In return for 6 wickets, he gave the team a fighting capital of 257 runs. Later the bowlers did the rest. Mehedi Hasan Miraj took the day by spreading spin poison with the ball. He took four wickets alone. His formidable spin bowling performance was enough to crush the visiting Sri Lanka. Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets in pace bowling. That is why he won the victory after many days.
However, Wanindu Hasaranga threatened the hosts with explosive batting. In the seventh wicket, Hasaranga continued to show his terrible form with the bat by averaging a partnership of 48 runs with Dasun Shanakar. Later, in the eighth wicket, the all-rounder of the Sri Lankan star almost got out of the match by averaging 72 runs with Isuru Udana. Young pacer Mohammad Saifuddin played a great role in Bangladesh's victory by depriving him of a century. Nothing could have been different if Hasaranga had survived at the crease. However, the Tigers have overcome that fear and obstacles.
Hasaranga returned with a catch off Saifuddin's ball after playing an excellent innings of 74 runs with 3 boundaries and 5 sixes at the cost of 60 balls. This is the highest personal innings for the Lankans. The Sri Lankans were bowled out for 224 in 48.1 overs by Hasaranga. Captain Kushal Perera added 30 runs to the team score.
Before that, Mushfiqur could not turn the 40th half-century of his ODI career into a century. He left after playing a remarkable innings of 64 runs off 4 balls with 4 boundaries and one six. Laxman Sandakan deprived him of the three-digit magic number. Isuru Udana picked up Mushfiqur's catch with his ball. Before returning, however, Mushfiqur formed a 109-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Mahmudullah.
Although Mushfiqur left, his teammate Mahmudullah Riyad hit fifty in Daputa. This is the 24th fifty of his ODI career. All-rounder Riyad returned with 54 off 7 balls with two boundaries and a six. Young all-rounder Afif Hossain, who went down to play the second ODI of his career, remained unbeaten on 26 *.
Tamim Iqbal could not stay on the wicket for long after batting an excellent fifty in Durbar batting. The star opener returned to the trap of Dhananjaya de Silver LBW after scoring 52 runs off 60 balls with 7 boundaries and one six. There was no profit with the review. However, Tamim has touched the milestone of scoring 14,000 runs in three editions of cricket. This is his 51st half-century in ODI cricket.
Dhananjaya raised the possibility of a hat-trick by dismissing Mithun for zero in the next ball. Dhananjaya took two wickets in the last two balls of the 23rd over. But with Mushfiqur's determination, that was no longer possible. Mushfiqur took one run off the first ball of the next over. However, Dhananjaya got three wickets.
Shakib Al Hasan, the world's best all-rounder, could not shine even though he was batting at the number three batting position. Big innings could not gift the favorite team. Shakib added just 15 runs to the team's score before leaving the field with a catch by Pathum Nissankar off Danushka Gunathilakar. However, with one wicket in hand, the cricket superstar has reached the milestone of 1000 wickets in recognized cricket.
Short Score:
Bangladesh: 257/6, 50 overs (Mushfiqur 64, Tamim 52, Mahmudullah 54, Afif 26 *, Shakib 15 and Saifuddin 13 *; Dhananjaya 3/45).
Sri Lanka: 224/10, 48.1 overs (Hasaranga 74, Perera 30, Mendis 24, Gunathilaka 21, Udana 21 and Shanaka 14; Miraj 4/30, Mustafiz 3/34, Saifuddin 2/49 and Shakib 1/44).
Result: Bangladesh won by 33 runs.
Best of the match: Mushfiqur Rahim.
Series result: Bangladesh leads 1-0 in three-match ODI series.