Sri Lanka drew first blood in the T20I series, winning the first T20I in Pallekele by 7 wickets with an over to spare against Bangladesh. While it was a night to celebrate for Sri Lanka, Bangladesh had a night to forget with bat and ball, more so with the ball. There are various reasons for Bangladesh losing the game yesterday, and we will list out three reasons for Bangladesh’s defeat against Sri Lanka.
Poor bowling and planning in powerplay costs Bangladesh heavily
Bangladesh were tasked to defend 154 which was a below par score on that pitch, but it was still a fighting score. All it required was for Bangladesh to show fight with the ball and take wickets to push Sri Lanka. Instead of taking wickets, Bangladesh could not even control the run flow. It was raining boundaries everywhere.
Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis were severe on the Bangladesh attack from the word go as they attacked the three Bangladeshi seamers Mohammed Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed and Tanzim Hasan Sakib. Taskin was taken to the cleaners by Mendis while Nissanka took care of Saifuddin and Sakib.
There was no planning in bowling to the openers as length deliveries were dished out. All were slot balls and were put away with ease by the openers. Nissanka was very severe in the powerplay scoring 42 off 16 balls. Sri Lanka raced away to 50 in 3.1 overs and were 78 when the first wicket fell in 4.4 overs. Mendis carried on from there on.
The Lankans scored 83/1 in the powerplay chasing 155 and the game was as good as over after the powerplay. Bangladesh did pull things back and stretch the game till 19 overs but Sri Lanka were not under any pressure of the asking rate. Powerplay bowling and planning needs to be better for Bangladesh and not playing Mustafizur Rahman baffled many experts.
Faltering in the middle overs against efficient Sri Lankan bowling
Put into bat first, Bangladesh had a decent start and had a good powerplay scoring 54/1. Parvez Hossain Emon gave the hosts the ideal start scoring 38 off 22 balls. But in the middle overs, things quietened down and the Tigers failed to get any momentum in the innings. They did lose wickets but not in clusters, but failed to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Litton Das missed out and failed to lead from the front as a captain. Mohammed Naim made 32 and remained unbeaten till the end but he consumed 29 balls in making it. Towhid Hridoy scored 10 off 13 balls. Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored 29 runs but took 23 balls in achieving it. It is due to Shamim Hossain that they got past 150 as he scored 14* off 5 balls.
Credit to the Sri Lankan bowlers as Dasun Shanaka and Jeffrey Vandersay bowled a miserly spell taking one wicket apiece. Nuwan Thushara picked up a wicket early on. Maheesh Theekshana went for runs, but got a couple of wickets. They strangled the Bangladesh team in the middle and even in the death overs. These are important areas that Bangladesh must work on if they wish or desire to come back in the series by trying to win the next game.
Middle Order Woes Continue to Haunt Bangladesh
Middle order has always turned out to be a bane for Bangladesh cricket and it is the same right now. The openers laid the platform for the rest of the middle order to drive home the advantage but they couldn’t. From 54/1 in 6 overs, they managed 154/5 in 20 overs meaning they added 100 runs for 4 wickets in 14 overs. The positions of the middle order batters was baffling to say the least.
Captain Litton Das batted at 3 and failed to perform with the bat. Mohammad Naim was sent in at 4 ahead of form batter Towhid Hridoy and all Naim did was stay unbeaten scoring a 29-ball 32 which did not given any momentum to the innings. Towhid Hridoy also wasted balls in his 13-ball 10.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s role remains a mystery since in ODIs he was batting at 5, captaining the side. Here, he is batting at 6 one place lower and scoring 29 off 23 balls at a low strike rate as well. Mehidy as an all-rounder needs to do more with bat in terms of strike rate, because one cannot bat at 6 and have a low strike rate.
There seems to be lack of role clarity for players in the Bangladesh side in the middle order and this needs to be fixed ahead of the next game in Dambulla. Some batters seem to be batting out of positions for Bangladesh and when they are batting, they seem to be wasting balls. A serious rethink has to be done for Bangladesh to improve and come back in the series.
What Lies Ahead
The stage is set for the second T20I in Dambulla on Sunday the 13th of July. The question remains to be seen whether Bangladesh can dust this game off and come back stronger to level the series 1-1. They have the talent and team but needs everyone to fire and more importantly have role clarity.
Will Sri Lanka seal the series in Dambulla or will the Tigers come roaring back in the series? We shall find out on Sunday when the second game takes place of this 3-match series.
Also Read: SL vs BAN: 3 Reasons For Bangladesh’s Gigantic Defeat Against Sri Lanka