Series: Asia Cup 2022
Venue: Sylhet International Cricket Stadium
Format: T20I
Toss: Bangladesh
Result: Sri Lanka by 3 runs (D/L method)
Rain intervened when the Sri Lanka innings was 83/5 in the 19th over, ending the innings and giving Bangladesh a reduced overs target of 41. They had 7 overs to achieve this at just under a run per ball. It seemed to weigh heavily in the favour of Bangladesh.
At 26/2 it appeared as though the batting team were cruising to this easy target. One over from Inoka Ranaweera changed all that. The bowler took 3 wickets and combined with a runout, 4 wickets fell in the over, breaking the back of the Bangladeshi innings. They had only themselves to blame, going big money shots when singles would have got them home.
From a seemingly comfortable position Bangladesh now needed 11 runs from the final over with 4 wickets in hand. They fell short by 3 runs, and the extraordinary two over spell of 4-7 earned Inoka Ranaweera Player of the Match.
Scores:
Sri Lanka 83/5 (Nilakshi de Silva 28*, Harshitha Madavi 18, Rumana Ahmed 2-14) 18.1 overs
Bangladesh 37/7 (Nigar Sultana 12, Inoka Ranaweera 4-7, Oshadi Ranasinghe 1-13) 7 overs
Player of the Match: Inoka Ranaweera