CWC2023 : Shakib , Santo star in Bangladesh 3 wicket win over Sri Lanka in match full of drama & controversy

 

Two Asian countries faced each other in the World Cup 2023 on 6th November.   Many did not pay attention to this seemingly insignificant match on the first working day of the week.  But the drama of that match kept getting hotter .  Angelo Mathews and Shakib Al Hasan's fight turned out to be enjoyable as the 'timed out' rule was seen for the first time in international cricket.  Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka at the end of the day.  Bangladesh chased down  280 runs target set by Sri Lanka with three wickets remaining.  Sri Lanka, who won the World Cup in 1996, are out from the World Cup this time.

  Bangladesh captain Shakib won the toss and decided to bowl first.  The decision was not wrong.  Shoriful Islam dismissed  Kushal Perera (4)  in the beginning but Pathum Nissanka(41)  and Kushal Mendis (19)  added 61 runs for the second wicket and Nissanka looked in good nick .  Sri Lanka came under some pressure after both of them went back in two overs in a row.  But Sadeera Samaravikrama  and Charit Asalanka managed to stall the  collapse . Sadeera played well but after his dismissal drama unfolded.  

  Drama after the return of Samaravikrama (41) with the team's 135 runs.  Mathews was a little late to enter the field.  When he came to the crease, he saw that the strap of the helmet was torn and called someone from the dugout to change it.  But in that he broke the rules of ICC.  The ball had to be ready for play within two minutes.  He didn't do that.  On Shakib's request, the umpire gave Mathews a 'timed out'.  Matthews returned to the dressing room shaking his head.  He threw away the helmet and gloves after crossing the boundary rope.  On the way back, Bangladesh's Sri Lankan coach Chandika Hathurusinghe had a wide exchange of words.

Sri Lanka reached 135-5 as Mathews returned.  It seemed that it would not reach 200.  But Asalanka fought hard with Dhananjay D'Silva (34) and Mahish Thikshana (22).  He scored a hundred with the help of 6 fours and 5 sixes and played many gorgeous shots . Finally he got out in the last over.

 Chasing 280 runs, Bangladesh was also in trouble.  Two openers Tanjid Hasan (9) and Liton Das (23) returned to dugout within 41 runs.  But Shakib and Nazmul Hossain did not let Bangladesh collapse. Birh played gorgeous strokes as Sri Lankan bowlers struggled in the dew .   Their 169-run stand for the third wicket paved the way for Bangladesh's victory.

 There was still drama left.  Shakib returned with a personal 82 runs off Mathews delivery .  After that, Mathews started pretending to look at his watch.  That shows how angry he was.  Before that, the Sri Lankan cricketers had a big quarrel with the umpires over the change of ball in the 26th over.

 After Shakib, Nazmul (90) also came under some pressure to return Bangladesh.  The two established batsmen of the team, Mahmudullah (22) and Mushfiqur Rahim (10) could not stay at the crease until the end.  At one time Bangladesh lost seven wickets with Miraz also throwing his wicket .  But Touhid Hriday and Tanjim Hasan won the team with couple of boundary hits . 

For Sri Lanka   Madhusanka again took the highest 3 wickets to take his world cup 2023 wicket tally to 21 but also proved effective 

Shakib for his 82 runs and 2 wickets was the player of the match . With this loss Sri Lanka are out of this world cup