Mushfiqur, bowlers deliver series win

Bangladesh registered their first-ever bilateral series win over Sri Lanka, thanks to a magnificent century from Mushfiqur Rahim in a 103-run win in the second match of the three-match ODI series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

The foundation was laid by 'Mr Dependable' Mushfiqur, who fought a lone battle with the bat as the Tigers posted a fighting total of 246 in a rain-affected game before the bowlers restricted the visitors to 141 for nine in 40 overs, with the revised target being 145.

It was an all-round performance from Bangladesh in the second part of the match -- the bowlers were disciplined while the fielders grabbed some brilliant catches as the hosts completed a dominating win and reached the top of the ICC ODI Super League points table with 50 points.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, repeated the same mistakes from the first game and kept losing wickets at regular intervals, with Danushka Gunathilaka's 24 being the highest of the innings.

Off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz was once again instrumental, bagging three wickets for 28 runs in his 10 overs while Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets too. Shakib AL Hasan picked up two wickets and equalled Mashrafe Bin Mortaza as the highest wicket-taker for the Tigers in ODIs with 269 wickets while debutant Shoriful Islam picked up one wicket.

Earlier, Bangladesh were in some sort of trouble after electing to bat first. Skipper Tamim Iqbal smashed three boundaries and got a life in the very first over from Isuru Udana but could not make the opportunity count.

The left-hander was trapped leg-before to a fast Dushmantha Chameera delivery in the very next over on 13 before the seamer dismissed Shakib in the same over pretty much in a similar fashion.

Shakib, for the second consecutive game, missed out with the bat and was trapped leg before without troubling the scorers as Bangladesh were struggling at 15 for two.

Liton Das, desperate to return to form after scoring a duck in the previous game, remained watchful early in his innings and it seemed that the right-handed batsman would be able to score big.

But that was not the case as Liton was dismissed in a rather soft manner when he handed an easy catch at point, going for a cut to a long-hop from Chinaman bowler Lakshan Sandakan after scoring 25 off 42 balls.

Mosaddek Hossain, included in place of Mohammad Mithun at number five, wasn't able to make an impact with the bat and was caught down the leg side off Sandakan for 10 as Bangladesh lost four wickets for 74 inside 16 overs.

Then it was once again the two experienced campaigners -- Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah Riyad -- who bailed the team out like the first ODI.

The pair started the rebuilding job and remained cautious but slowly started to take control over the bowlers, with Mushfiqur being the more aggressive.

Although Mahmudullah was eventually dismissed by Sandakan after scoring 41 off 58 balls; he had added 87 runs for the fifth wicket to navigate a tricky situation.

But the job was not done yet for the Tigers who still needed to post a decent total and it was down to Mushfiqur who emerged as their saviour.

Despite losing partners at the other end, Mushfiqur made sure he scored as many runs as possible. The right-hander also didn't try a single reverse-sweep after getting out trying a reverse-sweep at a crucial time in the last ODI.

Although rain interrupted the game twice, it couldn't stop Mushfiqur from registering his eighth ODI ton off 114 balls. The 34-year old went on and was eventually dismissed as the last batsman with eleven balls to spare after scoring 125 off 127 balls.