BAN VS SL - 1st Match, Group B, Asia Cup 2018

Not the greatest of starts to the tournament, but Bangladesh have done themselves a world of good with this spectacular win against Sri Lanka. It could have been a lot better sans the dropped catches and the horrific usage of DRS, by both teams indeed. We hope tomorrow will satiate your cricket cravings as Pakistan take on Hong Kong in the second group game of this Asia Cup. Same place, same time. Do remember to tune in for that. "Life's going to be full of a lot of little setbacks, but that doesn't mean you stop trying," one of my favourite lines from Atypical, a Netflix binge-worthy telly series. Hope Sri Lanka could draw some inspiration from that. On that note, we [Raju Peethala along with Sagar Chawla, Rishi Roy, Varun Dixit, Akshay Maanay and our scorer Sulthan] bid goodbye and good night. Cheers!!

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Today's stats roundup, courtesy Deepu Narayanan

-> Lowest all-out totals for SL vs Ban:
124 Dubai, 2018 (Lost by 137 runs)
147 Mirpur, 2009 (Lost by 5 wkts)
157 Mirpur, 2018 (Lost by 163 runs)
180 Mirpur, 2014 (Won by 13 runs)

-> Biggest losses for Full Members in Asia Cup ODIs:
158 Ban vs SL, Karachi, 2008
139 Ban vs Pak, Dambulla, 2010
137 SL vs Ban, Dubai, 2018 *
131 Vab vs SL, Lahore, 2008
** 131 Ban vs SL, Lahore, 2008

-> This is Bangladesh's first win in six ODIs in UAE.

-> This is only Bangladesh's 7th win in 45 ODIs against SL.

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Mushfiqur Rahim, Man of the Match: Thanks to almighty for giving me strength. We need to win both our games to qualify for the next round. Mithun plays really well and I knew it was easy to bat and I took my chances. When I saw Tamim walk out to bat I knew I had to do something for him and for my country. It's difficult to concentrate each and every ball. I thought I've ben in great nick in the last one year and I was determined to score big runs in this tournament. I'm really happy that I'm able to contribute to my team's win.

Mortaza: I should thank Mushfiq and Mithun. They batted really well and also Tamim came out to bat under real pressure. It was good to see Mushfiq get a big score. People should remember him (Tamim). The way our seniors are performing, I think it's time for our juniors to step up now. There's lot of things we can improve. Hopefully we can look after our batting in the coming games. We have to improve a little bit in our bowling as well. Thanks for the fans for coming out in numbers and supporting us throughout. We really need your support for the rest of the tournament. Good thing that we didn't field first, but somewhere in the tournament we have to be prepared for that.

Angelo Mathews: It was a pretty bad effort from the whole team. After having them 3 wickets down for 3 runs, we let them off the hook by dropping catches. And mushy batted very well. We made lot of bad decision while batting. It was a good wicket to bat to. I had to use Lasith to get the wickets in the middle overs. I thought 260 was a chaseable total. We made a lot of mistakes while batting. The decision making by the whole batting unit was poor. We need a good start when we are chasing 260. We lost too many wickets and no one got going today. In the first 10 overs, after losing wickets, batsmen had to do the repair job. Unfortunately we could not get going today.

22:36 local: After having Bangladesh on the mat - effectively 3 down for 3 runs - Sri Lanka tripped over with overexcitement and in the process dropped catches and let themselves down enabling a game-changing 131-run third wicket stand while at it. And from that instant, the momentum was firmly with Bangladesh who - led by the brilliance of Mushfiqur Rahim - ensured their valiant, gritty efforts with the bat didn't go in vain. They were pinpoint discipline with the ball and the fact that six of the ten Sri Lankan dismissals were either bowled or lbw adds substance to my conviction. In contrast, Sri Lanka only had two. Go, figure!

Shakib to Aponso, out Caught by (sub)Hossain Shanto!! Game over! That's the end of what has been a disappointing run-chase from Sri Lanka and that means Bangladesh are off the mark in their first game. This was quicker and angled in sharply, Aponso went for the flat-bat smack and hit it straight to mid-off; Nazmul Shanto the substitue fielder juggles thrice before collecting it on the fourth attempt. He revolved 360 degress to get a sight of that, but no worries. Aponso c (sub)Hossain Shanto b Shakib 4(31)

Shakib to Aponso, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Shakib to Aponso, no run, skiddy delivery outside off, Aponso jumps back and mistimes the cut to cover

Mosaddek Hossain to Malinga, 2 runs, lifts the drive over extra cover and buys a couple of runs

Mosaddek Hossain to Malinga, no run, allows the ball to spin into him and gently pats it into the leg-side

Mosaddek Hossain to Aponso, 1 run, drags a slider to the right of short fine and scampers across for a quick single

Mosaddek Hossain to Aponso, no run, locks himself into a tight-knitted defence off the front foot

Mosaddek Hossain to Malinga, 1 run, flat outside off, punched down to long-off

Lasith Malinga, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Mosaddek Hossain to Dilruwan Perera, out Stumped!! Sri Lanka's highest scorer in this game is out. Yes, you read that right. His stay at the crease was the longest too. Might have gotten a bit invigorated after those sixes and he decides to gallop out of his crease to this cleverly flighted delivery, gets beaten in the air and finds himself short. Tried to drag his back foot in but he was gone by a long way. Dilruwan Perera st Liton Das b Mosaddek Hossain 29(44) [6s-2]

Mosaddek Hossain to Dilruwan Perera, THATS OUT!! Stumped!!

Shakib to Dilruwan Perera, 1 run, nicely eased down to long-on