It was the last time, One Day International Cricket was eager to witness the ruthless pace attacks, toe-crushing Yorkers and the finest slings by none other than, the Sri Lankan bowler Lasith Malinga. Sri Lanka facing their Asian neighbours, Bangladesh, in a 3-day ODI series after the World Cup upset, was all set to bid goodbye to their T20 captain, Malinga. So, to make the game a memorable one, Malinga delivers his bag full of tricks one final time, to take Sri Lanka over the line in the first game of the series.
Coming to bat, Sri Lanka at first had to counter the enchanting spells of Shafiul Islam, and Avishaka Fernando (7 out; 13b) soon falls prey to his attacks, very early in the game. After a lightly grim start, Sri Lanka pulled back into the game soon after with captain Dimuth Karunaratne (36 out; 37b; 4X4) and keeper Kushal Perera (111 out; 99b; 17X4, 1X6) put out a 97 runs partnership. Perera continued to contribute a ton after captain’s dismissal, and with the help of Kusal Mendis (43 out; 49b; 4X4) and Angelo Mathews (48 out; 53b; 3X4) they took Sri Lanka’s total past 300 mark. Sri Lanka managed to score 314 runs in their 50 overs with the loss of 8 wickets.
A lot of spectators were waiting for the Sri Lankan bowling to start, to see ‘Slinger Malinga’ in action. Lasith Malinga even in his last ODI did not leave an inch open, scalping the openers, captain Tamim Iqbal (0 out; 5b) in the very first over, and Soumya Sarkar (15 out; 22b; 1X4) in the 8th over. Keeper Mushfiqur Rahim (67 out; 86b; 5X4) and Sabbir Rahman (60 out; 56b; 7X4) was the only players who boasted a strong fightback taking Sri Lanka almost near 200. But the rest of the team severely suffered from the bowling attacks by both Malinga and Nuwan Pradeep, with both scalping 3 wickets each. Malinga showing his class, with an economy rate of 3.93 having the last laugh, as Sri Lanka registered the first win of the 3-day ODI series with 2 more yet to be played on 28th and 30th July respectively.
