The first Super Fours clash went right down to the wire as Bangladesh gunned down the 169-run target and sailed to a four-wicket win over Sri Lanka at the ongoing Asia Cup on Saturday in Dubai.
In the final over, when the nerves jangled, it was Bangladesh who stayed composed and savoured the sweet taste of success. Sri Lanka's 8-match winning streak in the T20 Asia Cup came to a bitter end with this defeat.
While defending a 168-run target, Sri Lanka thought Nuwan Thushara handed them the ideal start by rattling Tanzid Hasan Tamim's stumps and punching his return ticket for a two-ball duck. But Saif Hassan had other intentions, and he spoiled the party for Sri Lanka with his rollicking strokeplay.
Bangladesh captain Litton Das credited his bowlers for restricting the Sri Lankans to under 170.
Before the Asia Cup, we chased quite comfortably. We know how dangerous Mustafizur is. Mustafizur and Taskin, the last two overs, they changed the game. It looked like 190 and they kept it down,' Das said at the post-match presentation.
'Taskin bowled a really good (final) over,' he added.
Looking ahead in the competition, Das said: 'We have to come again, new venue, new team and we have to play our A game.'
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka expressed dissatisfaction with the runs on the board.
''It was a terrific game. We held our nerves till the end but it wasn't enough.
'Pleased about our batting a little bit, we could have done better in the last 2 overs. We were 10-15 runs short,' he added.
Asalanka also had a word of praise for Dasun Shanaka whose unbeaten 64 took them to 168 for 7.
'Dasun Shanaka batted really well, we pushed him to five and he did a really good job. He hit a big six and the dressing room was happy because it was almost 170, that's the mark we wanted,' the Sri Lankan captain said.
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