BANGLADESH VS SRI LANKA! || ICC Cricket World Cup Warm-up Match 🏏
Bangladesh Cricket: The Tigers
And just four days later, the biggest cricket event in the world, the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, is going to start on Indian soil. This mega event of the cricket world will continue for more than a month. The teams that have qualified for the World Cup are already in India. The teams face each other in World Cup warm-up matches as a last-minute preparation. Bangladesh team also faced against Sri Lanka yesterday in that sequence.
The warm-up match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka was played at the Barshapara Stadium in India. Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka decided to bat in the toss at the beginning. Bangladesh's World Cup captain Shakib Al Hasan wasn't in the team in this match. He didn't enter the field in the preparation match due to injury. Instead, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who led Bangladesh in the U-19 World Cup, served as the captain in this match. Bangladesh bowling star Mustafizur Rahman was also rested in this match.
Two openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera made a great start for the team after winning the toss and batting. Both of them are a pair of 104 runs. The team started well but could not sustain it throughout the match. The Lankans were all out for 263 after losing wickets at regular intervals. Opener Pathum Nissanka played the highest innings of 68 runs for the team. Dhananjaya de Silva scored the second-highest 55 runs for the team.
After losing the toss, the Bangladesh team bowled badly initially but later turned around well. Especially in this match, the performance of the spinners of Bangladesh was commendable. Spin all-rounder Mahdi Hasan bowled nine overs and took the maximum three wickets. On the other hand, Miraz, who got the responsibility of captaincy in this match, bowled ten overs and picked up one wicket with only 32 runs. Nasum Ahmed, Tanjim Shakib, and Shariful Islam took one wicket each.
While chasing 264 runs given by Sri Lanka, Bangladesh got off to a fantastic start. Two openers Liton Kumar Das and Tanjid Tamim made a partnership of 131 runs. Liton departed with a personal 61 as Junior Tamim played a superb innings of 84 runs. The outstanding performance of the two openers eased the way for Bangladesh to win. Later, Towhid Hridoy got out for zero runs, but Miraz and Mushfiq took the team to victory. After a great performance in bowling, Mehidi Hasan Miraz also scored a half-century with the bat.
A performance like this against Sri Lanka on India's soil before the World Cup will boost the team's confidence manifold. The opening pair of Liton, and Junior Tamim was outstanding. Mehidi has shown his ability after getting the opportunity in captaincy. Another Mahdi was great with boel. All in all, the warm-up match against Sri Lanka showed Bangladesh's ability. The team should continue their performance in the main phase of the World Cup!