Bangladesh mocks Sri Lanka after series defeat

19 March 2024 08:19 pm

By: Harsha Amarasinghe

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Mar. 19 (Daily Mirror) - Bangladesh clinched the third ODI against Sri Lanka by four wickets to secure a 2-1 series win on Monday (18) which was followed up by a celebration from their veteran wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim who brought his helmet as they were lining up to pose for the post-match photograph adding more fuel to the fire.

At the conclusion of the T20 series, Sri Lanka team brought out the 'timed-out' celebration which appeared to upset Bangladesh captain Najmul Shanto who claimed that the Islanders needed to move on from it, but on Monday Rahim probably made him eat his words when he went as far as taking his helmet to take the photographs after post-match presentation.

It doesn't look like either team is going to move on from the 'timed-out' celebration anytime soon as an unlikely rivalry is growing strong between a team that has won two ICC World Cups and played in six World Cup Finals, against a team that is yet to play ICC World Cup semi-final.

Selection Blunder

As it turned out, Sri Lanka made a selection blunder in the third ODI opting for a three-spin attack on a wicket which appeared to offer fast bowlers something right throughout. Dunith Wellalage retained his spot while Maheesh Theekshana replaced injured Dilshan Madushanka, but Bangladesh managed to handle the spinners fairly easily while fast bowler Lahiru Kumara with four wickets caused them so much trouble.

Hasaranga cops hammering

Probably for the first time in his career, Wanindu Hasaranga looked out of sorts when a little known Rishad Hossain came out slogging the leg spinner. Hossain did go after Hasaranga in the third T20 as well but on a losing cause, however, on Monday he made sure the T20 knock was no fluke when he smashed Hasaranga for 40 runs in his last two overs.

Fernando Flops Again

Avishka Fernando flopped again against Bangladesh in the third ODI scoring just four runs which means that he only scored 41 runs in five innings across T20 and ODIs in this tour as an opener at an average of 8.2. The right handed batter did get some runs against Afghanistan on absolutely flat wickets, but doesn't seem to be the right choice at top moving forward. It looked criminal that Kamindu Mendis who was on such good form had to be benched throughout the ODI series to accommodate Fernando. It's hard to comprehend what selectors see in him except the fact that he is great mates of T20 and ODI captains of Sri Lanka.